Even though they were pegged back by Kaizer Chiefs for much of the second half of their cup tie on Saturday, Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt described his side’s narrow 1-0 victory to send them through to the final of the Telkom Knockout as gutsy.
The Clever Boys took the lead through striker James Keene almost immediately after the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Wiseman Meyiwa was sent off for a reckless stamp on Daine Klate just half an hour into the fixture.
“I thought in the first half we were dominant, but didn’t play to score and that was a little frustrating for me. I told them Chiefs would come at us in the second,” said Hunt, who is now in line to become the second South African coach to win all domestic trophies.
Pitso Mosimane of Mamelodi Sundowns remains the only one so far having won the Absa Premier League, the Telkom Knockout, MTN8 (in its previous format at the SAA Supa8) and the Nedbank Cup.
Wits coach Gavin Hunt shouts orders to his team during their Telkom Knockout game against Kaizer Chiefs. Photo: BackpagePix
“They (Chiefs) changed their system and pushed us back a little bit and we kept giving the ball away. All in all I thought it was a gutsy performance from us. We had to do what we had to do. We had Phumlani (Ntshangase) playing centreback. We had Daine playing on the inside because we had no personnel, which we haven’t had the whole season. I will obviously sound clever because it worked, but we had to do something and set-up the team in a certain way. We went with two strikers. I knew James wasn’t fit, but if he gets half a chance he will score.”
Wits host Sundowns in a league match on Tuesday night and will look to move up the table following the worst start to a season by the defending champions in the PSL era. The win against Chiefs was their fifth in open play from 15 matches in all competitions.