Grieving SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt believes Orlando Pirates have benefited from some fortunate refereeing decisions and some good fortunes falling for them during their recent good run.

Hunt questioned the first-half penalty awarded to Pirates against Royal AM last Sunday, which Patrick Maswanganyi converted to open the scoring in their eventual 4-0 victory at Harry Gwala Stadium.

He also pointed to Kabelo Dlamini’s goal, which he believes was a cross that looped into the net unintentionally.

“They’re winning easily now,” Hunt told Sportswire. “Honestly, did you see the game here (at Harry Gwala Stadium)? They should have been down 3-0 before they scored.”

“Then they get a (questionable) penalty, and the boy (Dlamini) crosses the ball into the far post and it goes in.”

Hunt referenced another incident in the Nedbank Cup semi-final against AmaZulu, where Makhehleni Makhaula went down under minimal contact from Taariq Fielies. This penalty decision swung the game in Pirates’ favor as they won 4-2 at Moses Mabhida Stadium, leaving AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco Martin fuming.

“Look at AmaZulu, they get a penalty. When things are going your way, they go your way, and we’re just not having that,” said Hunt.

Hunt also highlighted Stellenbosch FC’s seemingly good fortune, particularly their 3-0 win over Golden Arrows where Devin Titus scored within the first minute at Danie Craven Stadium on Wednesday.

“Look at Stellenbosch, they scored in the first ten seconds,” he said. “We haven’t had that luck. Sometimes you have to work harder for everything to fall into place, but it’s a learning curve for this young team.”

“They need to work on their play without the ball, their shape, their patterns of play, their physicality, and their endurance. We need to learn from this.”

SuperSport’s win over Royal AM ended their 10-game winless run, with their last league victory coming against Pirates themselves in December.