Throughout his football career Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy has demonstrated that being thrown in the deep end brings the best out of him.

The first time he was put in a sink-or-swim situation was more than 20 years ago when Gavin Hunt made him a starter at the age of 17 at Seven Stars.

Before his 20th birthday, McCarthy was playing for Ajax Amsterdam all alone in Europe and thousands of miles away from his family.

Now in his rookie season as a coach, the former Bafana Bafana ace is swimming in deep waters once again as he prepares the Citizens for the CAF Confederation Cup.

McCarthy says it all started when Hunt gave him a chance as a teenager.

"He threw me in the deep end and he forced the club to let me go to Europe and not the big clubs in South Africa," McCarthy said.

"I have to respect and cherish that he gave me a life in football. I want to follow in his footsteps. What motivates me is to whip him every time I play against him."

The former Porto striker was speaking after his team edged Hunt's Bidvest Wits 1-0 to march into the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup in midweek.

City will now to travel to Swaziland to face Young Buffaloes in the preliminary round of the Confed Cup tomorrow (4pm) where McCarthy will once again be in unchartered waters.

"We have to rotate the squad but whoever is playing knows that I want grafters and hard work," he reflected.

Hunt, meanwhile, is preparing Wits to take on Pamplemousses of Mauritius in the Champions League at the Bidvest Stadium tomorrow (6pm).

"I don't even know what colours they play in so I have to find all that out," he admitted.