Hunt blames injuries and tough fixtures for SuperSport’s bad run

SuperSport United might have slumped to another defeat to Orlando Pirates but their coach Gavin Hunt (below) is optimistic of turning things around.

Matsatsantsa a Pitori have simply been poor in the new campaign with five losses from seven games in all competitions.

Following the 4-0 drubbing against Kaizer Chiefs in the Carling Knockout last Saturday, Hunt’s charges suffered another demoralising 2-0 defeat to the Buccaneers at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday night.

READ MORE: Makgopa and Hotto fire Pirates past SuperSport

Hunt has blamed their poor run of form on missing some of his key players, despite making some very good acquisitions before the season started.

Grant Magerman, Gamphani Lungu and Bradley Grobler are all out injured. The former PSL champions have also sold Kegan Johannes, Selaelo Rasebotja and Shandre Campbell in the off-season.

“We’re missing four big players that haven’t played this year and that doesn’t help us in our attack because we have nothing to get out with,” Hunt said.

“So if you don’t score or create opportunities, you’re not going to be able to control games and we are chasing games all the time.

“When you chase against Pirates and you play the quality of Sundowns and Pirates, then you’re going to get hurt because they’ve got the money at the (other) end of the pitch.

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“We’ve lost two games like this, but believe me this isn’t a heads-down situation. Everyone is positive I’m the first person that will see if anybody is slacking. They are not and they are giving their all.”

In addition to injuries and selling a couple of his youngsters, the experienced coach has also bemoaned the tough fixture scheduling that has already seen them play the traditional “big three” Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs.