Gavin Hunt hails unsung Stellenbosch hero in Chiefs win | OneFootball

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Hunt praises under-the-radar Stellies hero after Chiefs victory

Photo: Gavin Hunt

Stellenbosch FC head coach Gavin Hunt says Chumani Butsaka had a huge impact in their Betway Premiership win over Kaizer Chiefs on Tuesday.

The Cape Winelands outfit came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory at FNB Stadium, thanks to goals from Langelihle Phili and Devin Titus, while Flavio Da Silva scored for the home team.

Stellies climbed to 11th on the log standings, having picked up 19 points in 17 league outings, to go five points clear of the relegation zone.

Though Phili continued his red-hot form in front of goals, much to the delight of Hunt, who believes he can still improve in certain aspects - the experienced tactician reserved special praise for Butsaka.

“I think there's a lot he's got to do still in terms of both sides of the ball - with the ball and without the ball, so it's an ongoing thing. He's a top goal scorer, which is magnificent from his perspective but for me I think he could be so much better. Everyday it's an ongoing thing working with him,” he said.

"I thought the player that changed the game tonight was Chumani Butsaka, I thought he was the difference in the game, in both teams in the second half. And there's another one, really good player and somebody that could do so much more for us. Yeah, but major [Phili], he's got to improve in certain areas and he will do, we'll work with him.

Having eliminated Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup earlier this month, the former SuperSport United mentor dismissed suggestions that the recent league victory will be a confident boost in their fight against the drop.

“I don't believe in confidence in football players, I mean you should have confidence everyday, winning or losing. I think what it does is points, confidence doesn't mean anything, you can play well like we played so well on Saturday - we had so much confidence but we lost,” Hunt added.

"So, we need points. Obviously it gives you a bit of a feeling about the players but points are vital for us now and we are playing again on Friday. With all due respect to Kaizer Chiefs, they played on Saturday and we played two games, three games, and four games, so they were certainly more on the front foot than us, but we knew that.

"But I couldn't use that as an excuse, but certainly there was a huge let down on Saturday [Nedbank Cup exit to Golden Arrows], I could see. I've never seen a team so devastated, you saw what happened.