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Gavin Hunt warns against the folly of using log standings to underestimate opponents

Gavin Hunt, Coach of Bidvest Wits during the Absa Premiership 2018/19 match between Bidvest Wits and Kaizer Chiefs at the Bidvest Stadium, Johannesburg on 09 January 2019.
Gavin Hunt, Coach of Bidvest Wits during the Absa Premiership 2018/19 match between Bidvest Wits and Kaizer Chiefs at the Bidvest Stadium, Johannesburg on 09 January 2019.
Image: ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt has cautioned against the mistake of using log standings on the premiership table to judge the strength of opponents as he prepares the leaders for their clash against Highlands Park at the Makhulong Stadium on Saturday.

The four-time Absa Premiership-winning coach says results are very unpredictable in the domestic topflight and he will not allow himself to be lulled into a false sense of security in Wits' 20th league game of the campaign against the 10th-placed Highlands.

“Another fight‚ another fight‚” said Hunt as he summed up the premiership leaders' meeting with Highlands on Saturday.

“Highlands Park is a hard team to play against‚ if not the hardest because of the way they play the game.

“There’s just nothing wrong with that because everybody has got a way they want to play.

“We just have to overcome those things - if you want to win you have to overcome those things.

“You have to be better‚ so you have to match the intensity and hopefully we have the ability to take over.”

On visiting Highlands and playing them at the same time as second-paced Orlando Pirates‚ who are four points behind Wits and face Kaizer Chiefs in the Soweto derby also on Saturday‚ Hunt said he’s now experienced enough to concentrate on his own assignment rather than worry about his title rivals.

“I really don’t look at any other fixtures‚ I just look at what we do‚” said the Wits coach who won the league title with the Clever Boys in 2016-17.

“I’ve been too long in this business to look and I don’t get excited if anybody loses or draws.

“I just look at our fixtures and obviously I’ve been disappointed when we dropped points so badly this year‚ but I mean‚ there’s still a long way to go.

“If it was five games to go I would be really worried‚ but right now I’m not worried‚ we are enjoying it.”

Wits skipper Thulani Hlatshwayo got the only goal that separated the two sides when they met in the first round league match in Milpark‚ Johannesburg in October.

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