Posted in News, Team News on Mar 21, 2021.
Amakhosi coach Gavin Hunt is no novice when it comes to featuring in derby games in the South African topflight football. He has led teams in the Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Soweto derbies. As a coach, he will be standing in a league Soweto Derby for an 18th time. He was coach of Moroka Swallows in eight league derbies against Pirates in the past and also faced Chiefs in eight league derbies as Swallows coach and met Pirates as coach of Chiefs earlier this season. No coach has been involved in more Soweto derbies in the PSL era than Hunt. He knows the importance of winning games against local rivals and would like nothing more than to win three points against Pirates at 15:00 this afternoon at FNB Stadium.
Hunt wrapped up preparations for Sunday’s crucial league encounter with a training session on Saturday morning. He also took his team through their paces at FNB Stadium earlier in the week to prepare for the game. Chiefs will be without Lebogang Manyama, Leonardo Castro, Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Kearyn Baccus, Itumeleng Khune, Dumsani Zuma and Khama Billiat, who has started training but is not yet match ready.
“We’ve obviously got key players out but that is part and parcel of the game,” says Hunt. “We have to focus on those who are available and not concentrate on the players we don’t have. We have to work on our set up for the game and do the best we can.”
Despite Hunt having to go into the game against Chiefs rivals without a number of players, the history of the event is not lost on the Chiefs mentor, who is happy to be part of the historical occasion on Sunday which will see Chiefs and Pirates meet in a league game for a 100th time.
A reflective Hunt explained this saying: “A hundred league games is a lot of games. There is a huge history between the two clubs. We need to maintain this history and hopefully we can come out on the other side of this game with a positive result.”
The Chiefs coach is also aware that Pirates are the form team coming into the game as they are soaring high up on the league table. “We have to be prepared,” he adds. “WE need to make sure we are organised and stick to the game plan. Pirates are way ahead of us on points. The game still has to start, and we will go in there well prepared.”
For Hunt, a win is all that matters and having lost to Pirates earlier this season, he will want to avoid another loss to them.
“Previous results don’t count when you play any games,” concludes Hunt. “Last week’s results don’t matter. It’s important for us to be competitive. The two days training we have had have been good. I cannot fault the players’ attitude. It’s very difficult to switch from CAF to local games, but we can’t use that excuse.”
Hunt’s rivalry with Pirates from his first season as a coach in the PSL back in 1998-99 is well documented, and the Chiefs coaches’ teams have always stretched Pirates to their maximum. He will be looking for his team to test Pirates with township bragging rights up for grabs all the way on Sunday afternoon.
The game will be televised on SABC 1 and SuperSport Channel 202 at 15:00 with commentary on various SABC radio stations.
Hunt wrapped up preparations for Sunday’s crucial league encounter with a training session on Saturday morning. He also took his team through their paces at FNB Stadium earlier in the week to prepare for the game. Chiefs will be without Lebogang Manyama, Leonardo Castro, Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Kearyn Baccus, Itumeleng Khune, Dumsani Zuma and Khama Billiat, who has started training but is not yet match ready.
“We’ve obviously got key players out but that is part and parcel of the game,” says Hunt. “We have to focus on those who are available and not concentrate on the players we don’t have. We have to work on our set up for the game and do the best we can.”
Despite Hunt having to go into the game against Chiefs rivals without a number of players, the history of the event is not lost on the Chiefs mentor, who is happy to be part of the historical occasion on Sunday which will see Chiefs and Pirates meet in a league game for a 100th time.
A reflective Hunt explained this saying: “A hundred league games is a lot of games. There is a huge history between the two clubs. We need to maintain this history and hopefully we can come out on the other side of this game with a positive result.”
The Chiefs coach is also aware that Pirates are the form team coming into the game as they are soaring high up on the league table. “We have to be prepared,” he adds. “WE need to make sure we are organised and stick to the game plan. Pirates are way ahead of us on points. The game still has to start, and we will go in there well prepared.”
For Hunt, a win is all that matters and having lost to Pirates earlier this season, he will want to avoid another loss to them.
“Previous results don’t count when you play any games,” concludes Hunt. “Last week’s results don’t matter. It’s important for us to be competitive. The two days training we have had have been good. I cannot fault the players’ attitude. It’s very difficult to switch from CAF to local games, but we can’t use that excuse.”
Hunt’s rivalry with Pirates from his first season as a coach in the PSL back in 1998-99 is well documented, and the Chiefs coaches’ teams have always stretched Pirates to their maximum. He will be looking for his team to test Pirates with township bragging rights up for grabs all the way on Sunday afternoon.
The game will be televised on SABC 1 and SuperSport Channel 202 at 15:00 with commentary on various SABC radio stations.
