Sekhukhune United head coach Eric Tinkler has explained why midfielder Sipho Mbule did not play in their most recent game in the Betway Premiership despite travelling with the team.
The highly-rated midfielder formed part of the Sekhukhune matchday squad but was an unused substitute as Tinkler’s troops beat CT City 2-1 on Sunday away from home.
Tinkler, who has been in charge in four games since taking over from Lehlohonolo Seema, has played Mbule in two games. The Mamelodi Sundowns loanee came on as a second-half substitute against Stellenbosch FC and Marumo Gallants.
The 27-year-old also missed the Nedbank Cup clash against his parent club due to the loan policy.
Tinkler has since revealed that the midfielder was out of action as he has been sick for the whole week, hence Mbule missed the CT City game. The Sekhukhune coach also stated that Mbule has been working on his fitness.
SIPHO MBULE RETURNING TO FULL FITNESS AFTER STRUGGLING WITH FLU
“Mbule has been sick the whole week. I did bring him [with the team] and I wanted to give him at least some minutes in the second-half, [against CT City]” said Tinkler. “But things changed because of the situation [red card] and what happened in the second-half. He didn’t get game time. Now it’s going back to training, working on him to get back [to fitness].
“With him, it’s a little bit of ‘yes he is in then he is out’. So he hasn’t really got to full fitness yet. So we need to try and get our squad together to basically achieve that third position.”
ERIC TINKLER PLEASED WITH THE RETURN OF SEKHUKHUNE UNITED DEFENDER NJABULO NGCOBO
Meanwhile, Sekhukhune also welcomed back defender Njabulo Ngcobo after a long layoff due to an injury.
Ngcobo’s last match was in November of last year against TS Galaxy. He came on during the last 15 minutes of the 2-1 win against Cape Town City on Sunday.
“Njabulo has been out for a very long time, and you can see it because he struggled when he came on,” said Tinkler.
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