Following the disappointment of gaining just one point from their last two games, Gavin Hunt takes his Bidvest Wits side on a short trip to the eastern shoulders of Johannesburg looking for an upturn in fortune. Wits still have title aspirations but are tonight, at the Makhulong Stadium, up against an opponent in the shape of Highlands Park that is faced with the battle to avoid the drop. Four points behind leaders Cape Town City with two games in hand – Wits don’t need any reminders that they have make use of their catch up games if they genuinely want to stretch the title race all the way to the end instead of fizzling out when it matters the most.
“From the first game of the season it is never about pretty football. It is always about results from the first game,” argues Hunt, who knows too well that points matter more than playing the overhyped beautiful football. “Every game is a big game now. We have games every three days now so we are disappointed now but we have to pick ourselves up, it is not lost yet and there is a lot to go. The last two games have thrown us a bit and we will have to try and be more competitive. We need to shine up and come right now and it might have to be done the hard way.
“The concern is that we haven’t scored from open play for four to five games now. Plus we don’t have the squad that people believe we have. We have kids playing and now we get penalized for producing players because now they have to go away to the Under-20. It’s not many teams that have Under-20s playing in their first team,” says Hunt. The regular dose of injuries at Wits have kept Nazeer Allie and Thulani Hlatshwayo out though the plus is that James Keene is back to put up the fight upfront.
At the other end Highlands are fighting with every drop of energy that they have in them with the two wins, two draws and two losses in the last six games testimony to that. Points taken from Orlando Pirates and Bloemfontein Celtic in the last two games have just about kept them away from the bottom giving club boss Brad Kaftel reason to keep believing. “For us we just have to keep on fighting all the way and we remain confident that we will survive,” he notes.
