Cape Town - SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt has defended his approach after his side were dumped out of the Nedbank Cup following their 2-1 defeat to amateur side Dondol Stars on Wednesday.
For the Stars players, the game will be one that they will never forget for the rest of their lives. For Hunt and his team, it was total embarrassment.
As many teams do against less fancied opposition in tournament competition, Hunt opted to rest many of his first team players. Moreover, he went with the unusual decision of deploying veteran attacker Thamsanqa Gabuza as a defender.
Sphamandla Gumede to the Rescue 🦸♂️
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) February 8, 2023
The Dondol Stars' shot-stopper comes up clutch to deny SuperSport United in added time ❌🧤#NedbankCup🏆
Hunt has said that he made his tactical decisions with a view towards preparing his side for the future.
“We can’t have a team that is stagnating. We need to add youth in the team and in the strike force. Bradley Grobler and Thamsanqa Gabuza have done unbelievably well but you can’t rely on them every week. You can’t let the team get old together and we need to make sure that we have one eye on the future. We will try to use Bradley and Gabuza where we can,” said Hunt.
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Hunt added that he had no regrets over his approach but felt that the players who received opportunities to showcase their abilities did not take it.
“We gave people a chance. We have players under different circumstances. We still have a long season and we put players out there and should be good enough to win the game. Given a chance and you have to take it. We have Thulani Hlatshwayo out and Luke Fleurs out but I don’t want to go there. It is not an excuse, we had enough chances to win the game and we didn’t take them. Players were given a chance and I must take the blame but you have to believe that players were good enough to do the job,” said Hunt.
Matsatsantsa’s defeat in the Nedbank Cup essentially now means that they will end the season without a trophy. With Mamelodi Sundowns having virtually already won the league, Hunt’s side will now have to turn their focus to securing second spot in the top flight which will earn them qualification to next season’s CAF Champions League.
They are second in the league and a point above third place Richards Bay. Their next game is on Saturday as they travel to Durban to face Royal AM at the Chatsworth Stadium.