Hunt contemplating fielding reserve team in Caf Cup

So tight is SuperSport United’s upcoming future schedule that coach Gavin Hunt is contemplating fielding the Diski Challenge reserve team in the Caf Confederation Cup.

Following Tuesday’s 3-1 penalty shootout victory over Cape Town City in the Nedbank Cup, Matsatsantsa a Pitori will next play Modern Future of Egypt in Caf’s second tier club competition on Sunday.

That game will be followed by a trip to Cape Town to play City in the DStv Premiership and another one to Algeria to take on USM Alger before turning their attention back to the domestic front with a tricky encounter against Polokwane City in a space of 10 days.

“We have a game on Sunday against the team from Egypt and then we have to go to Cape Town and then we get back here on Thursday,” Hunt said about their grueling schedule. 

“And then we have to go to Algeria on Friday, we will arrive there on Saturday and play on Sunday. We land (back in South Africa) on Tuesday and then we play on Wednesday. I don’t know how we are going to do it. Maybe we just going have to play the Diski team or something but we will see how we do it.”

Hunt is desperate to have some of first choice regulars back in the team for the second half of the season to help navigate playing in the league, Nedbank Cup and the last two matches in the group stage of the Confederation Cup.

“We need to get a few players back like Tyson (Thulani Hlatshwayo), Ime (Okon) and Keegan Allan which can give us a bit of stability at the back,” Hunt said after the game against City on Tuesday.

“You could tell tonight we were playing people out of position but they put their hands up and that was important. I thought it was a good performance but our passes let us down but it was a workman like performance,” added Hunt.

“We would have been disappointed had we lost. If you looked at the game as a whole, we created a lot of chances tonight but I don’t think we were at our best. We looked a bit heavy and all over but anyway the most important thing is that we got through.

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“I don’t think we have had a good run in the cup in the last few years. Cups sometimes cloud seasons but in South Africa we love cups don’t we? Me as a coach, I’d rather have a good league position but it gives us another game so we will see where the draw takes us but with our fixture list, it’s going to be tough because our squad is so depleted,” Hunt concluded.