Stellenbosch coach Gavin Hunt said the outcome of Friday’s Betway Premiership clash against TS Galaxy could have gone either way, although his side went on the offensive in the second half in a strong bid to come up with the victory.
It finished as a 1-1 draw, denying Stellenbosch a chance to move into the top eight but stretching their unbeaten run in the league to six games since the veteran coach arrived at the start of the year.
Stellenbosch were caught cold and went a goal down at 45 seconds but bounced back to equalise through Wonderboy Makhubu in the second half.
“Look, they could have won it. We could have won it. They had some big chances. We also had a few good chances,” was Hunt’s synopsis of the game.
“But you can't start a football like we did. I don't think we touched the ball before they scored. We were still in the changing room, I thought, and the game kicked off, so I’m disappointed we didn’t win because it was a home game, it's a real six-pointer there, in my opinion, because of where they are and where we are.”
Stellenbosch remain in ninth spot on 24 points from 20 games, one point behind TS Galaxy who have played one game more.
“We did well to come back in, but we just let it slip, and we lost our direction a little bit, and that’s disappointing from my perspective, but, hey, we’ve got 12 points from six games. If we get 12 points in the next six games, I'll run down Adderley Street, you know what I mean?”
Hunt changed tactics at halftime and put on a second striker in Tsegofatso Mabasa, alongside Makhubu, in a full frontal attack.
“You watch any team anywhere in the world when they are 1-0 down, what do they do? Put two strikers on!
“I normally play with two strikers. You’ve got to have strikers that can play together. You know, and for me, I love to play two upfront.
“I'm still one of the only coaches who play the two strikers in the league. But tonight we didn't because I wanted to try something else.”
“But there's nothing better than seeing the ball inside the box and there's goalmouth action. I'm from that. And modern football is that. Don't tell me modern football isn't it.
“Once we went to two strikers, it was a different game and we had more penetration, there was more thrust. It also leaves us a little bit short in midfield sometimes, but it's one of those things.
“Everybody's talking about this modern football. What happens now is some guy sits at the computer or a laptop and he's a modern footballer. These people are ruining the game. They ruin the game because a lot of judgements are made from laptops, but there's no feel and smell and eye to see what is needed.
“That laptop's not going to tell you to make a change now, say five minutes to go. Do we stick, or do we go? Do we go with two strikers? You know what I'm saying? There's too much of that going on in football and it's destroying the game,” Hunt added.
“A famous coach always told me, ‘Go watch a man work on the training ground. Then you tell me if he's a coach or not. How he prepares his team from Monday to Friday’. So, if you were to come to my team, how are we preparing from Monday to Friday? What scenarios are we doing? What situations? Not just generic stuff.”