Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt says his side’s mental attitude is ‘slowly and surely’ improving after their 1-0 victory over Wydad Casablanca this past Saturday.

Bernard Parker’s goal proved the difference as the Soweto giants walked away with maximum points at the FNB Stadium, despite finishing the game with nine men after Daniel Akpeyi and Samir Nurkovic were shown their marching orders.

Amakhosi will now take on Guinean giants Horoya in their last Group C match on 10 April as both teams look to join Wydad in the quarter-finals of the continental competition.

‘We know what to expect when we go there [Guinea] next week, what else can we do? At the start of the season that was my primary focus [working on the team’s mentality] because the mentality is the most important thing,’ Hunt told the media.

‘There was a huge setback after what happened last season. There was a huge mental meltdown. I think sometimes they [players] need time away from the game, which they haven’t had. If you understand football, sometimes less is better. We need a few days just not to train, to get away.

‘But slowly and surely I see a mental turnaround in the team and that is important and we expect that every week. I can understand the huge setback from last season when we got so close. We now need a good mental attitude.

‘I went there [to Horoya as Bidvest Wits coach] last year. We had a similar situation like we had tonight. It is not going to be easy. Yes, we should have beaten Horoya here, it certainly would have helped. We then went away to Wydad and you could have seen how it was there, it was crazy. It baffles me how we got into this situation.’

He added: ‘It was a very dominant performance. Obviously well deserved. In the first half it was even we really had some good opportunities.

‘I thought we were going to struggle along in the game and then we scored and we did what we had to do in the last 10 minutes, but I think it was a well-deserved victory.’