Pretoria – Coach Gavin Hunt admits Wits are some way off the pace from where they need to be, but is pleased to walk away with three points against SuperSport United in Atteridgeville on Saturday.
Amos Ngcobo scored a 70th penalty to guide the Clever Boys to a tough victory on the opening day of the season, in a game which left a lot to be desired.
“You can see we’re a new team. I’ve got seven or eight changes in the team so it’s going to take a bit of time, but what can I do?” Hunt said afterwards.
“I’ve just got to try and soldier on, try and get as many points as we can, as quick as we can, and try and make a challenge from there.
“There’s not enough quality in the final third, but what do you want? Prettiness or points at this stage? We’ll take the points.”
A dismal first-half display sent the teams into the break locked at 0-0 in what looked like a final score.
Michael Morton’s clumsy slide-tackle inside the area on 69 minutes, however, handed Hunt and his visiting outfit a life-line, while an incensed SuperSport coach, Cavin Johnson, was left to ponder what could have been.
“That’s what happens when you have all the chances in the world. I thought that we should have won the game but they had one chance in the second half Ä the penalty,” Johnson said.
“I don’t know if it was a penalty but from where I was standing, I can’t say. They had one chance in the second half to score a goal and we lost the game.
“We should have scored three or four goals at least but we didn’t do it tonight.”
The defeat was United’s second on the trot, following last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Orlando Pirates in the opening round of the MTN8, which Johnson said it was a “wake-up” call for his under-performing side.
“I thought we played 10 times better than last week.
“What can we do? We lost the game, we lost the three points, we’ve got to pick ourselves up and come back on Tuesday and do something better.”
There will be little time for United to dwell on defeat, as the new league season kicks-off with a rigorous schedule during the early stages, and Matsatsantsa will have an opportunity as early as Tuesday – against Chippa United – to make up for Saturday’s disappointment. – Sapa