Gavin Hunt's surprising honesty after Stellenbosch FC's narrow victory at Sekhukhune United

GAVIN HUNT has used the refrains ‘we should have won the match’ or ‘we should have scored more goals’ so much in his post match media addresses that to hear him say anything else gets one doing a second take.

It has become somewhat of a cliché really, an expected statement from a coach even when the reality of proceedings had been different.

It was thus somewhat of a shock when 'Huntie’s' maiden post-match address as coach of Stellenbosch FC did not include those lines. Perhaps most surprising was to hear the multiple championship-winner admitting his team were lucky to win their Betway Premiership tie at Sekhukhune United 1-0.

Tsheogatso Mabasa scored on debut for the Cape Winelands outfit he joined this week on loan from Orlando Pirates to help extricate Stellies off the bottom rung of the table albeit by just one position into 13th place.

“Let’s be honest, the longer the game went on, the better they got. They should have got a point,” Hunt said in the bowels of the Peter Mokaba Stadium. In the first half we were good and had some opportunities and then there was that big chance in the second half. But we were fortunate to win.”

It was the truth, Stellies owing their victory to the splendid work done by goalkeeper Sage Stephens who pulled off a handful of great saves to keep Sekhukhune at bay.

The victory was good for a Stellies outfit that will be engaged in continental football for the next week and thus likely to be usurped by the other teams who are fighting to stay afloat in the elite league.

“Where we are for us every point is important because now we don’t play (Premiership football) for a long time. The next games are going to be CAF and if we had lost here tonight (on Tuesday) we would find ourselves right there at the bottom.”

New to a club low on confidence following an uncharacteristically poor beginning to the campaign having finished the previous one in the lofty third place position, Hunt’s many years of experience is going to be seriously tested as he works to build not only morale but a cohesive team.

Stellies need to get away from the relegation zone and go back to challenging for honurs like they’ve done in previous seasons.

Their continental debut last season was highly impressive as they reached the semi-final of the CAF Confederation Cup and they were expected to be serious contenders in Africa’s second tier club knockout competition.  Yet with Hunt intending to use the competition to fine-tune the team, a run as brilliant as the previous one could well be out the window.

“I’ve got to try make the squad better without crying too much,” Hunt said. “When they (new players such as Mabasa, Mosa Lebusa and Kobamelo Kodisang) come from these clubs they have not trained. So I will use the CAF to try and get them fit for the game.

"We are in a situation where we’ve got to try and make the squad better; improve the players and improve the results. It is an ongoing fight but we are at the halfway point of the campaign with another half to go.

"We know where our shortcomings are. We’ve got some good players in the dressing room. They just need a different type of mentality and it takes time to get that into the team.”

And time, at this level of the game, is a luxury coaches like Hunt don’t have. He knows this much only too well having been sent packing by Durban City when he least expected.

“In this (coaching) business you leave your suitcase at the door. I did not think I was leaving the last job, but what can we do.”