Increasingly pressured Chiefs coach Hunt resists the temptation to criticise Khune

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 during their 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 into 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 placed fifth from the bottom with six points to show for their efforts. They trail leaders Mamelodi Sundowns by eight points with both teams having played the same numbers 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 half time 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 that they 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.

“I thought 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.

“I was very calm in the dressing room at half time‚ we made a tactical change and it was much better. I said to them that they must not panic because there are goals here.

“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.”