Johannesburg – Gavin Hunt admits Wits’ lack of goals is cause for concern and says the Clever Boys will need to address the problem quickly if they are to challenge for trophies this season.
Second half goals from Siyabonga Sangweni and Thabo Matlaba guided Orlando Pirates to a 2-0 win in the pair’s MTN8 first-leg semifinal at Bidvest Stadium on Sunday, putting the Soweto outfit firmly in control before the return leg at Orlando Stadium next weekend.
“We’ll have a go next week. Obviously right now we’re right out, so we have to try and win there. But we’ve only scored one goal now in four or five games and that’s certainly a problem for us,” Hunt said afterwards.
“I think we could have played here until tomorrow and not scored. The ball just wasn’t bouncing for us. But you just have to pick up the pieces and go again.”
Wits have scored just twice in four competitive games early in the new season and will have a mountain to climb getting back into the top eight clash at Orlando Stadium next weekend.
A goalless draw, followed by a 4-3 win on penalties, was enough to book the Students’ place in the last four of the cup reserved exclusively for teams finishing in the top eight of the league the previous season.
That result was followed a by a scrappy 1-0 win over SuperSport United and a 1-1 draw with the University of Pretoria, both in the Premiership.
“Disappointed with the result, obviously, but it’s one of those things and we will try and good again on Saturday 1/8in the second leg 3/8,” Hunt added.
“We were good through the 90 minutes, I don’t think there were any problems but it’s unfortunate. I thought we pressed in the first half, pressed in the second half, we pressed everything… it didn’t fall for us and that’s unfortunate.
With a midweek league encounter with Maritzburg United lying in wait, Hunt says the team will have to put Sunday’s result out of their minds and focus on the next assignment, before travelling to Soweto next weekend.
“We’ll worry about Wednesday first, Wednesday is more important now and we’ll try and pick up the pieces and try and go again,” he said. – Sapa