SuperSport United were undone by the bounce of the ball, the blustery conditions and the pitch, claimed coach Gavin Hunt whose side suffered a 4-0 hiding at Stellenbosch to exit the Nedbank Cup.
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Stellenbosch’s emphatic win came on a windy Saturday at the Danie Craven Stadium and saw them into a fourth successive cup semifinal.
🚨FULL-TIME SCORE UPDATE🚨@StellenboschFC 4 - 0 SuperSport United
— SuperSport United FC (@SuperSportFC) April 13, 2024
Defeat at The Danie Craven Stadium. Matsatsantsa bow out the #NedbankCup2024. #MatsatsantsaUnified pic.twitter.com/eyinPl7epU
“Look, we never adapted to the conditions, that's for sure. We couldn't get hold of it (the ball). I mean, it was, bobbling and bouncing around. But fair play to them (Stellenbosch),” said Hunt.
“We just couldn't get in, just didn't adapt to the conditions. And, you know, we went behind at the wrong times; early in the match and then straight after halftime which killed it for us. “But we kept probing, kept trying to give it a go but certainly couldn't get any momentum. And then obviously, the score line is what it is. We tried to chase it but we just never adapted. It was very difficult, and we struggled,” he added.
The 4-0 defeat was the heaviest for the club in more than a decade and the first time Hunt, in his veteran coaching career, had lost by that margin in a cup tie.
Following yesterday's victory over SuperSport United, exactly 200 days and 21 matches have passed since the Maroons last tasted defeat in a competitive fixture 💪 pic.twitter.com/Z2N4WNkY8t
— Stellenbosch FC (@StellenboschFC) April 14, 2024
“If you're going to look at us collectively, there was some hesitancy. The ball holds up, then it doesn't hold up and we were caught between a rock and a hard place a lot of the time with a ball swirling and we just never, as I said, adapted well to the situation …while they did, obviously. In the game before this against TS Galaxy it was absolute rain, you couldn't even see, and then today with blustery conditions. And the pitch was really, really difficult. But we had to adapt and we didn't. They were better than us and you got to take it on the chin,” Hunt said.