Wydad Athletic Club head coach Rulani Mokwena has explained why attacker Cassius Mailula has been starting from the bench in recent matches for the Red Castle.
The Botola Pro League powerhouse moved on to the Moroccan Throne Cup quarterfinals after a challenging 1-0 victory over FUS Rabat on Friday night, where Mailula was brought on in the latter stages of the match.
This was the Bafana Bafana international's fourth consecutive game starting from the bench since he last started against champions RSB Berkane in a league match in February.
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Meanwhile, another South African star Thembinkosi Lorch, who is on loan from Mamelodi Sundowns, was amongst those who started the game against Rabat.
After reaching the last 16, Mokwena provided the rationale for why he is only bringing in Mailula late in the recent matches.
"Cassius [Mailula] has got a hamstring injury and he has been playing in the last three or four weeks with an injury," Mokwena said after the match.
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"Even [Thembinkosi] Lorch, I saw him towards the end of the game he was holding his hamstring. So I am very scared of losing more players because we have a long injury list.
"If we lose Cassius, Lorch, we are bit thin now, so we are just protective by just giving him [Mailula] just ten or 15 minutes because he is struggling with the hamstring."