JOHANNESBURG - Gavin Hunt will have a handful of his protégés in the Orlando Pirates match-day squad that will square off against his Kaizer Chiefs team.
The Chiefs coach is set for his first Soweto Derby when his charges visit arch-rivals Pirates in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-finals at Orlando Stadium tomorrow (3pm kick-off).
But this match should also serve as a reunion of sorts for Amakhosi’s new commander in chief. Hunt is scheduled to meet some of his former players for the first time since vacating the hot seat at Bidvest Wits two months ago.
After Wits were sold to Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila at the end of last season, Thulani Hlatshwayo, Deon Hotto, Terrence Dzvukamanja and Thabang Monare opted against relocating with the newbies to Venda, instead accepting offers from the Mayfair-based side.
At Pirates, that group joined former Wits teammates, and Hunt’s protégés, Vincent Pule, Ben Motshwari and Gabandinho Mhango. And that’s why it’s been relatively easy for people to label Bucs’ new squad as “Wits lite”.
Hunt understands the strong additions that his counterparts have made this season, while he’s stuck with a season-long transfer ban.
“My opinion, I think they (Pirates) have got to be big favourites for the league title this year. I think they’ve really pushed the squad. They’ve got a lot of good players that I know and obviously worked with,” Hunt said.
“They’ve got a very good squad of players. What they do now is not for me, so I’ve got to concentrate on what we must do.
“They are certainly much stronger than they were last season. I know what’s ahead of us and we are looking forward to the game.”
On paper, Chiefs should be the more confident of the two teams. They head into the first derby of the season on the back of a win in the DStv Premiership against Chippa United, while Pirates were held to a draw by Stellenbosch FC.
Hunt, though, is not reading too much into the midweek results. Instead he’s adamant that he’ll apply his approach to the match according to its demand, considering a knockout game is all about the result rather than the performance.
“We are new at the club, so we’ve got to find out about the players a little bit more every day and every game, and then try to get a way of playing that suits the players that we’ve got - that’s the most important thing,” Hunt said.
The Chiefs coach was relatively pleased with his team’s performance against the Chilli Boys, especially after they dusted themselves off after a 3-0 defeat at the hands of defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns.
Notably what pleased Hunt and his technical team against Chippa was seeing the young lads - particularly Njabulo Blom and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo - continuing to show maturity.
The 56-year-old, though, says he won’t put them under pressure.
“I don’t say a word to the players, I don’t need to say anything to them. I think that’s over-rated. They are there because they are good enough; concentrate on what they have to do and what they don’t have to do,” Hunt explained.
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