IF HE could, Gavin Hunt would readily trade Bidvest Wits’ brilliant cup run for good results in the league.
Such is the pressure on Hunt to rectify a terrible Absa Premiership run that he has hardly celebrated guiding the Students to the Telkom Knockout final.
Wits could clinch their first trophy of the season after beating Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 at the weekend, courtesy of a James Keene goal. But their cup form has been in complete contrast to their inconsistent league run, where they lie second from bottom with eight points from nine matches.
They return to league action with a home fixture against Mamelodi Sundowns on Wednesday.
No sooner had he dumped Amakhosi out of the Telkom Knockout than Hunt shifted his focus to the league.
“I’d rather take three points at the moment. But it’s a cup win and we’ll take it,” said Hunt.
“All these cup wins would really help us in the league, wouldn’t they?
“But football is what it is. Hopefully we can get a result this week and smile again.
“We know the task on Tuesday. We know what we are up against – a very good side. But we just have to battle through this period.
“Hopefully this cup win can take us the other way.”
Despite his enormous squad, Hunt insists he has limited personnel, pointing to injuries to key players such as Thulani Hlatshwayo and Nazeer Allie.
“We have no one back from injury. It’s been like this since the season started. We got Phumlani (Ntshangase) playing centre-back, Daine (Klate) playing inside.
“We have no personnel. We haven’t had this whole season. That is what it is. Keene is not fit but if he gets half a chance, he’ll score. It’s the way we’re set up that helped him score.”
Hunt reckons early season cup disappointment contributed to their poor start to the league campaign.
“We should have been in the MTN8 final. We went into our season a bit disappointed because we had opportunities in that tournament but we didn’t make it count.
“I think that affected us a little bit.”
