Gavin Hunt was left disappointed in his side’s failure to convert their chances after falling to defeat to Chippa United on Saturday evening.

Returning to Danie Craven Stadium for the first time in 168 days, Stellenbosch FC’s homecoming was disrupted by Chippa United who claimed a 2-0 victory in their Betway Premiership encounter, courtesy of goals from Harold Majadibodu and Imraan Jones.

The Chili Boys’ opener came through the boot Majadibodu who capitalised on a fortuitous error at the back to give his side the lead against the run of play, before Jones sealed the win with a late goal with Stellies’ numbers committed at the other end.

“We’re disappointed, obviously,” Hunt said. “The first goal was a killer, but before that we could have been two goals up because we had two great chances. Then we had another cleared off the line, and if you convert those chances, it’s a different ball game.

“If we made it 1-1 there was only going to be one winner, and I feel we still should have won the game, even though we were 1-0 down at half-time. The breakaway goal of theirs at the end was always going to happen because we were pushing.

“…But fair play to them. We can’t change the scoreline. We have to be better, and we should have been better.”

Despite the result, Hunt shared that there were still elements of the performance that he could draw positives from, and that he was confident his young squad would have learned valuable lessons from the result.

“We played some good stuff at times, some good football, and created some good chances. But, like I said, that first goal was the killer and after that you’re chasing the game and with their pace they’re going to catch you.

“I thought Justice Figueredo was brilliant up front for them, he was strong, and it’s disappointing from that perspective because we should have handled it better.

“We have a young, young team, with a lot of inexperienced players, and they need to learn how to take the game by the scruff of the neck and these results will teach them how to play sometimes. We should have won though. We had more than enough chances.

“You come back home and think it’s all going to be swell, and that you’re going to rock up and get three points, but they battled away and you’ve got to give them credit. They dug in and we just didn’t break them down. Right to the death, we had great chances, but that’s football.”

Stellenbosch will return to Danie Craven Stadium next weekend when the Maroons take on AmaZulu in the quarter-final of the Carling Knockout Cup. Confirmed fixture and ticket information will be communicated in due course.