Gavin Hunt has reflected on his side’s performance after 10-man Stellenbosch were held to a 1-1 draw by Magesi FC in Wednesday’s Betway Premiership encounter.
Returning to Danie Craven Stadium for the first time since September last year, Stellenbosch FC almost enjoyed the perfect homcoming after Langelihle Phili opened the scoring with a powerful effort in the 32nd minute of the tie.
That lead was short-lived, however, as Magesi levelled matters through Samuel Darpoh minutes later, before things took a turn for the worse in the second half when Wonderboy Makhubu was shown a straight red card for a high-boot challenge.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Maroons battled bravely and held on for a point, which has helped the team maintain a four-point advantage over Magesi in the league standings.
On the 90 minutes of football and Magesi’s new-manager bounce
“I thought when we scored, that we would get a foothold in the game, but fair play to them, they made it difficult for us,” Hunt said. “You have to give the opposition credit. They never let us settle on the ball, and certainly changed their strategy.
“They’ve got a new coach [in Alan Freese], and there is always going to be an upturn in his first game, always, it doesn’t matter who you are anywhere in the world.
“He left four up and went from a back-four to a back-five again, which I expected would happen. It’s why I did what I did by playing two strikers, with Devin Titus [playing alongside Makhubu], and if Devin scores his chance, it’s 2-0, and then the game is done.
“I said to the players at half-time that we can’t allow them to have chances, and they never really did apart from one in the first half that Sage [Stephens] saved.
“Then there is the free-kick [from which Magesi scored], and it’s always going to favour these kinds of games, but we had a great chance to score from a corner too. All in all, we’re not happy, but we’ve got to work with it because it’s getting tighter and tighter.”
The post Gavin Hunt reflects on Stellenbosch draw against Magesi FC first appeared on Africa Top Sports.
