Chiefs coach Hunt says football is a game of mistakes

Increasingly pressured Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt has resisted the temptation to openly criticise captain Itumeleng Khune after his blooper led to Black Leopards’ opening goal in the club’s 2-2 draw on Wednesday night.

Khune‚ who had three safe options in front of him‚ forgot the basics of ball distribution by striking the ball in the path of unmarked Leopards striker Ovidy Karuru, who made no mistake to give Lidoda Duvha the lead.

Leopards gained confidence and Karuru registered his brace after 22 minutes. But Amakhosi launched a second-half fightback with goals from Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and Khama Billiat to rescue a point.

“Any mistake on any football pitch is disappointing and everybody makes mistakes‚” said Hunt‚ who is increasingly under pressure as Chiefs continue to struggle to get their league campaign on track.

Chiefs are fifth from the bottom with six points to show for their effort. They trail leaders Mamelodi Sundowns by eight points with both teams having played the same number of games.

“It’s very disappointing but that’s football, it is a game of mistakes. It happens but we stuck together‚ we were calm at halftime and we made changes that I thought worked because it was one-way traffic in the second half. I thought we could have won the game‚ but from where we were it was a good comeback and we just have to keep working.”

Hunt said while he thought his side gifted Leopards the two first-half goals he was encouraged by their second-half fightback.

“I thought we gave them a start with two unbelievable mistakes and we have done that for most of this season.

“There was some good stuff in the second half and a well deserved point‚ but we could have made it three at the end there. We had some good chances but you can’t keep on coming back from those kinds of deficits‚ and we have been doing it.

“We just have to keep on working on the training ground and try to get it right. That’s all we can do and stop making individual errors because in the games that we have lost this year‚ individual errors cost us,” said Hunt.