Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt insists that he will continue to produce young footballers, especially with the small squad size he has this season.

The Clever Boys managed to earn a point against Mamelodi Sundowns following their goalless draw at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday night, despite ending the game with 10 men after Buhle Mkhwanzi received his marching orders.

The draw has Wits occupying third place with 27 points from 13 games, while Sundowns remain second with 32 points after 16 matches played so far this season.

Hunt says he will give more youngsters the chance to get game time after letting the likes of Molahlehi Khunyedi (17) and Rowan Human (18) stretch their legs against Pitso Mosimane’s side.

‘Yeah, fantastic result, you know. I mean, the game was even certainly when it was 11 vs 11 and obviously when we were a man down they pushed their full backs right in at us, right on top of us,’ Hunt told SuperSport TV post-game.

‘You know they’ll always have the ball but we had a great chance; the youngster, if he had just held his line he would have been in on the right side. Great energy, I mean he’s got a big future. So, ja, compliment to all the players, fantastic result.

‘And I will say, you gotta grind this sort of results sometimes, all compliments to the players, they were magnificent.

‘We changed the shape today, we played a different shape, we tried to give ourselves more of a chance and we did. But obviously a lot of a 18-year-old boy up front [Molahlehi Khunyedi], a 17-year-old coming on in midfield [Rowan Human], that’s what we’re about. I’ll keep doing it.

‘I’ve done it for the last 30 years, the most important thing in football. Keep producing the young boys, there’s big opportunities for them at our club, I’ll keep putting them [in] next week and the week to come. I’ve got another one coming next week, so it bodes well for the future.

‘If you had said to me at the beginning of the season, 13 games, 27 points, I would have cut your hand and taken it. So, we’re right in there with the squad we’ve got. We gonna go to Egypt now on Thursday, we’ll be back, play Wednesday. It’s crazy.

‘With what we’ve got, they are digging in, they showed me they’ve got grit. We just haven’t got a little bit of quality in the front third, the boy will come in this week, he’ll make a big difference to our team. One or two youngsters, who knows where we can [end up]. We’ve got no ambitions to … we just worry about the next game and the next game.

‘With the size of the squad what we’ve got, I think we’re punching above our weight, we always have and we always will,’ he concluded.