Stellenbosch FC head coach Gavin Hunt has revealed how a pre-planned approach paid off during the Club’s 1-1 Betway Premiership encounter against Mamelodi Sundowns.

Stellies traveled to Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Wednesday to take on table-topping Mamelodi Sundowns, who had won each of their previous 10 matches in the Betway Premiership.

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That streak was brought to an end by the Maroons, however, after the team from the Winelands claimed a hard-fought point away from home, snatching a share of the spoils late in the game through a goal from substitute Tshegotaso Mabasa.

“Fantastic performance from us,” Hunt said during his post-match press conference. “We came here with a plan, wanted to play with no strikers, and sat in a block, and yet I thought we had the best chances in the game.

“Devin [Titus] and Omega [Mdaka] had chances to score, and even when the game went to 1-0, I always knew that we could get back in it and that we would get a chance. We could even have won it at the end, which was a bit frustrating, but nobody gave us a chance, so it was a fantastic performance.”

You can listen to the full press conference via the audio below:

One of the biggest talking points from the match came from Hunt’s decision not to name a recognised striker in his starting XI, with Mabasa and Ashley Cupido only deployed later in the encounter.

“I could give you a whole explanation, but I thought it was the best way to go,” he explained. “We wanted our people on the right side of the ball, not the wrong side, and a striker would be on the wrong side a lot of the time.

“When we break out, we want to break out into space, so we were happy to let their centre-halves have the ball because nine times out of ten they were going to give it back to us.

“It’s not being clever, we just had an idea of what we wanted to do. I’ve said it before, but I’ve beaten Sundowns many times before playing without a striker, and [almost] did it again.

“You have to try something different. We can’t play our normal way against a team of this quality, or they’ll beat us every time. We had to things differently, and that’s what we did.

He expanded, “There are different ways of showing respect. We created chances, and we created spaces for us to go into, which we did. If you’re going to go onto them, they’re a team that will pick you off, so we had to create space by giving them space. What we tried to do was perfect.

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“I think our goalkeeper had one save to make during the whole game, which, as the away team, is really good. We deserved what we got. They had the ball, but the stats will tell you they had nine chances to our seven.

“What does that tell you? Football is not about everyone playing the same way and trying to do the same thing. We’ve got to box clever against a really big and strong team.”