Wits disappointed with the second half of their season

With only one match before their 2018-19 PSL campaign comes to an end, Wits will need a world of luck and favours from their counterparts in the last games of the season, if they are to win the title on Saturday.

The Clever Boys are mathematically in the hunt for the championship this season as they are third on the log with 51 points, three adrift of the pacesetters, Orlando Pirates, and two behind Mamelodi Sundowns, who are in second place.

The permutations for Wits to be crowned this season’s league champions are simple: Pirates must lose their last encounter against Polokwane City, and Sundowns must also suffer the same fate against Golden Arrows (tomorrow) and Free State Stars this Saturday, while Wits must beat Arrows in their last match.

And, with those chances on offer, Wits coach Gavin Hunt, pictured, is having a roller coaster of emotions.

“We’ll keep going and try to get better,” Hunt said after their 3-1 win over Baroka FC on Saturday.

“We are obviously disappointed by the second round because we should have won the league, we know that. We crazily threw games away, but it is what it is.

“We are building. We’ll keep playing and plugging away.

“We are the less excited ones because we’ve got no chance really, but we’ll keep playing.”

Luck is something that hasn’t been on Wits’ side this season.

They should have won their matches after the Christmas break, but instead dropped points in the second half of the season at a place that is supposed to be a fortress, Bidvest Stadium.

“Halfway the season, we were clear with 30 points. I said to the players: ‘If you make 30 points in the second round, then you’ll win the league’.

“I proved it right this year. We had (Kaizer) Chiefs, (Mamelodi) Sundowns, (Orlando) Pirates and Cape Town City all here and we never beat any of them.

“But in the first round we beat all of them away. So, it’s disappointing,” Hunt said.

Add to the fact that in their third-last game against SuperSport United they were denied a legitimate goal, by referee Phelelani Ndaba, who was later suspended by Safa for three months, that could have handed them maximum points.

“I don’t want to say anything. I’ll let the powerful (people) handle the situation.

“We all know that it’s disappointing, but it is what it is,” Hunt said.

Wits had their hopes pinned on getting at least a point from Sundowns, who were found guilty of fielding an ineligible Wayne Arendse during their clash last year.

Sundowns, however, walked away with only a monetary penalty.

“I think all the cases were disappointing,” Hunt said.

“The Sundowns one, whatever the rule is the rule. Funding money is nothing.

“It’s like racism in Europe, they fine them.

“Don’t fine them, once you start taking points and then we are going to see where the situation is.”