Gavin Hunt should have been purring like the cat that just got the milk, delighted that his team finally found their scoring mojo.
The SuperSport United coach should have been stoked at having completed a Betway Premiership league double over a club that treated him shabbily in the past. Damn, he had seen to a 4-1 defeat of Kaizer Chiefs in their own backyard, the kind of result many a coach would rave about for weeks on end.
But deep in the bowels of the calabash that is the FNB Stadium, Hunt was moaning about how he’d lost the spine of his team. He grumbled about how he has a new team that still needs to gel. And then he said the masterclass his team delivered on a wet Tuesday night to essentially gain revenge for the 4-0 loss Chiefs handed them in a cup game earlier in the season was not their best performance.
Classic Huntie! He just cannot be pleased, can he?
Samir Nurkovic, Christian Saile, Hughampani Lungu, and Siphesihle Ndlovu all beat Bruce Bvuma in the Chiefs' goals as SuperSport won 4-1 in a match that saw Glody Lilepo scoring the consolation goal for Amakhosi, who were later reduced to ten men when Gaston Sirinho was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Hunt made a feeble attempt at celebrating the victory, initially underplaying his team’s performance before pointing out the positives.
“I thought I’ve seen us play better this season and not get results,” Hunt said.
“To see the ball go in the net, something we have not done well this season, it was good – especially the first two or three. But I’ve seen us play better. It was a really greasy night, so we played to our strengths and the players were good, though they’ve been good this season, but we just did not get the results. We are a new team; two or three players are gone, and we are trying to find each other, and it is not easy.”
He lamented the injuries to his key players who have been out for a while now: “We lost our spine. We lost the guy who stops all the goals (from going in against us) Tyson (Hlatshwayo); we lost the guy who creates all the goals – Grant Margeman; we lost the guy who scores the goals – Bradley Grobler. So, we lost our spine, and that’s been our problem this season.”
That problem was non-existent on Tuesday night, though, as SuperSport punished Chiefs' soft belly, particularly on Amakhosi’s left channel where Matsatsantsa enjoyed the equivalent of a Ben Schoeman freeway on a Sunday. Three of their goals, except for Nurkovic’s, came from that side, with Bradley Cross being taken to the cleaners so much he was ejected off the pitch midway through the second half.
Dumelang 😊💙#MatsatsantsaUnified pic.twitter.com/q75AUG3PL1
At least Hunt acknowledged the contribution of his defenders, who were solid, although not overly tested by Chiefs.
“I thought the two centre-backs, the two kids, did well. It was going to be difficult for them, but I’ve got to put trust in them. And the young left back was important for us. All in all, the result was important for us given where we are,” he said, before he went into his usual fault-finding mode. “We’ve played better, but the result was good for us.”
He believed he had no real reason to celebrate.
“It’s just three points. We’ve not won a cup; we’ve not won anything tonight. We’ve got to get ourselves out in the league though not for a lack of effort and trying. The commitment is all there, and the attitude has been fine.”