Head coach Eric Tinkler has explained how he considered benching star man Khanyisa Mayo during Cape Town City’s goalless draw against Kaizer Chiefs.
Despite dominating the match with 55% of ball possession and three shots on target to Chiefs’ two, The Citizens played to a stalemate against Amakhosi at Athlone Stadium on Saturday.
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Mayo, who is normally entrusted with finding the beck of the net for Tinkler’s side, was understandably ineffective, being fresh from national team duty in Algeria and subsisted off in the second half.
In fact, Tinkler admits that he considered benching his star man.
"I’ll be brutally honest. I was considering not starting him because it’s brutal what he had to go through," Tinkler told journalists after the match.
"From Algeria, it was probably an hour-and-a-half drive to the airport. Then a six-hour flight to Dubai. Then it’s a four-hour layover in Dubai. Then it’s a flight to Joburg.
"Then it’s another two hours before he comes back here. And he arrived on Thursday afternoon. Friday he came to training and I was considering not starting him [on Saturday].
"But at the same time, I have a youngster Jody [Ah Shene]. How fair is it to throw Jody in the deep end right from the first whistle?
"I sat with Mayo, I said to him, 'How do you feel?' 'No, I feel rested.' He went to cryo (Cryotherapy), which we hoped would help him.
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"So, he did a cryo session, but somewhere along the line, it was going to happen whether I started him or if I didn’t start him. There was always going to be fatigue in his legs.
"But I chose to start him today and he struggled, he struggled. But Mayo is our top goal scorer and that I cannot ignore."
City now turn their attention to high-flying Sekhukhune United on Tuesday evening at New Peter Mokaba Stadium. Kick-off is at 19:30.
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