Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt feels that playing in the Caf Confederation Cup has made his side physically and mentally strong after beating Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup.
The Clever Boys advanced to the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup after claiming a 3-2 win on penalties over Pirates after the game finished 3-3 after extra time.
Hunt feels their experience of playing in the Caf Confederation Cup was crucial in helping Wits overcome the Buccaneers after being reduced to 10 men when Elias Pelembe received his second yellow card.
‘There’s so much I can say but I’d rather stay away from that. I think Caf makes you strong, it makes you mentally strong and all the diversity we had in Caf, you can’t believe what we had in Caf. We came here and you know, that’s why we battle away,’ Hunt told SuperSport TV after the game.
‘We’re strong mentally, physically, down to 10 [men], we always looked like we could have a chance. Yes, they had chances at the end but we had the best chances of the game, real 100% chances over the course of the game.
‘[Deon] Hotto in the first five minutes of the game, I mean he’s just got to roll it in, we hit the post and obviously we had some other ones. Fantastic spirit, we’ve got fantastic spirit, we might not have the best, but we always got a good spirit and that’s the most important thing.
‘And I’ll say it again: what we went through in Caf, no human being can go through what we’ve been through. I knew we could withstand things like this.’
Hunt believes his side could have put the game to bed in the second half after going into the break with a two-goal lead, but has credited Pirates for their fightback.
‘They just on the ball, obviously they throw numbers forward, the full backs are pushed in on us, they run on top of us, we couldn’t get out. We were static in the second half but, in saying that, we still had one or two good opportunities.
‘I said to them, “Look, we can ride the storm a little bit, we’ll get through, we can win this game 3-0 or 4-0.” Well, credit to them, they came back in and obviously we all saw what happened after that – the penalty, their penalty, was definitely a penalty and ours, obviously that’s disappointing. But we were really tough mentally and that’s the most important thing.
‘In Caf, there are never reds, there are never yellow cards, so that’s the difference. In Caf, they tackle you, anything below waist height is not a yellow card and anything above the waist height is maybe a yellow card … so, that’s Caf.
‘We found that out, we had red cards in Caf, penalties against us, people criticise us for getting knocked out in Caf, but nobody saw the game of ours, nobody and what we went through was unbelievable. I said to the players, this will see us through the season, I’m telling you now.
‘I know when we won the league we had the same thing in the [Caf] Champions League, you know we lost Al Ahly 1-0 over two legs, unbelievable fight, the Enyimbas, you know, but it brought us the togetherness and huge determination.’
