Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt expects Al Ahly loanee Amr Gamal to add quality to his team after he made his debut in the MTN8 loss against Cape Town City.
Gamal became the first Egyptian to ply his trade in South Africa after The Clever Boys snapped up on a season-long loan deal and Hunt explained the thinking behind playing the striker against Benni McCarthy’s side.
“I threw him [Gamal] straight in. I said ‘why not’, it’s a cup game,” Hunt said in post-match comments.
“He held the ball nicely for us [but] there were certain things I wanted him to do that he didn’t do, but with all the qualities he’s got, it’s what we look for and he’ll certainly be a force to be reckoned with.
“We just need to find the right combination with him and I think we will in time. I have great faith in him. He plays at a top level, plays for top clubs, for a top nation and let’s see,” he added.
The four-time PSL winning coach also spoke of his team’s 1-0 loss to City, saying that they altered their shape a bit from their league loss against the same opposition.
“We had a problem in certain areas. I thought we were shaken up a little bit and tried to play a different shape, which we did, and I thought we were much better.
“But even in the first half we had two great chances, [one] cleared off the line and the penalty so, we didn’t get it and we didn’t score.
“I said, ‘if we score first, we’ll score five here against this team’, and it was the same two weeks ago at Millpark and we didn’t do it. So you’ve got to give them [City] credit.
“They dug in, they fought like hell, but so did we and it was a good game of football and it just didn’t fall for us, [but] that’s what happens in football.
“But you’ve got to give them credit. They played the way they played and we’ve just got to break it down,” he concluded.
Wits will aim to overturn the one-goal deficit when the two teams meet in the second-leg of their clash at the Bidvest Stadium on September 10th.
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
– This story originally appeared on SportsClub.co.za
