SuperSport United head coach Gavin Hunt is looking forward to returning to Lucas Moripe Stadium for the first time this season ahead of the Tshwane Derby.
Third-placed SuperSport take on Mamelodi Sundowns with the chance to move to the top of the DStv Premiership with three points against the undefeated outfit.
Sundowns, with eight wins from eight games, are seemingly romping to yet another title and ahead of the game, Rulani Mokwena said they are expecting a spectacle with the pitch an pristine condition after the work the club put into reviving the stadia while Loftus Versfeld’s pitch was being relayed.
“Yeah 16 games later [we return to Moripe] it will be good to be back and we’ll get the big dressing room as well, so yeah we’re looking forward to being back,” Hunt said before joking about Mokwena’s statement.
“Who [prepared the pitch] for the last 20 years, who’s been paying for the pitch? Yes [SuperSport United]… that’s correct yeah, so let’s not go there.”
With Matsatsansa looking to improve their revenue streams, a decision was taken up with the Polokwane municipality to host games in the province, with Marumo Gallants no longer in the top-flight it was said to be a lucrative offer to bring SuperSport outside of Gauteng.
“Obviously the club [had to move away] for other reasons and I understand the reasons, I’ve sat down and explained it, I understand the reasons – you can work it out what the reasons are,” Hunt continued about the decision to travel outside the province for home games.
“But you have to be careful in this game of football because if you understand football, to travel 400kms to play games it’s taking its toll and we’re not blessed with three players per position type of thing, we have one per position and under 18.
“So it’s been difficult for us, we’ve tried to keep our head above water and I think we’ve done okay. But the last two games have hurt us big time, we should have won both those games but anyway, we drew and lost so that was disappointing.
“But in saying that we’re not halfway yet, there’s still a long way to go this season and hopefully we can get a few games back [winning] and get a bit of momentum again.”
