Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi has revealed that Gaston Sirino’s recent injury issues and the red card his team received is the reason the playmaker was not involved on Wednesday.
Chiefs secured a 2-1 victory against Richards Bay at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, with Wandile Duba and Ashley Du Preez converting Yusuf Maart’s pair of assists, but it was a hard fought win for Amakhosi, who saw their opponents threaten a comeback with a late goal.
The Glamour Boys played the entire second half with 10 men following Reeve Frosler’s 46th-minute sending off and Nabi says it was difficult to introduce Sirino under such circumstances given he is just coming from an injury.
Why did Sirino miss out on the action?
“He is coming from an injury. Even in the tournament that we played in PE [Home of Legends Cup], he was injured,” Nabi said of Sirino, who was among the unused substitutes.
“We were planning to give him some minutes during the game. But given the circumstances with the red card, we couldn’t risk it. But we will probably see him in the next games.”
Victory moved Chiefs to sixth position on the table on 10 points and Nabi is happy that his team weathered the storm to return to winning ways after failing to win their three games prior to the international break.
Nabi happy with 10-man Chiefs’ attitude
“It’s true that it’s a precious three points because it was a tough game. We got the red card in the first five minutes of the second half, then you play the whole second half with a man down,” he said.
“But we feel that we were good even though we were with 10-man. We managed to score the second goal, having a man down. It’s understandable that the opponents kept pushing, and maybe the energy on our side dropped because of a man down.”
Kaizer Chiefs will be at home to Royal AM on Saturday when Sirino will likely make the starting XI.
