Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi was made to eat a dose of humble pie on Sibongiseni Mthethwa, whose reintegration back into the team could be permanent after a lengthy period of struggle.
Mthethwa was one of the players sidelined at Chiefs following the arrival of Nabi and was reportedly even put on the transfer list in the previous window.
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The former Stellenbosch FC midfielder was initially not in the plans of the Tunisian-Belgian, who wanted to play with a deep-lying playmaker and not necessarily a defensive six.
'Ox', as he is fondly known, was completely out of the picture, struggling to even make the 18-man match-day squad for all the side's official games so far this term, including in cup competitions, prior to his start against Richards Bay on Wednesday.
The return of Njabulo Blom seemed to have also complicated matters for Mthethwa, as he fell down the pecking order that already had Yusuf Maart, Samkelo Zwane and Edson Castillo surging ahead.
Even Castillo's injury in a 1-0 league defeat to SuperSport United in October did not make the former AS FAR Rabat coach to consider 'Ox', ahead of matches against Magesi FC and The Brazilians, the latter in the Carling Knockout quarter-finals.
It was only after Zwane made a terrible error, with a misplaced back-heel pass that was intercepted and led to a penalty against Sundowns, in the 4-0 humiliation, that Nabi had to rethink his game model during the FIFA break.
Mthethwa made the most of the two games he played in the Home of Legends Cup during the international break after he impressed against Golden Arrows and Sundowns.
He eventually got his first official minutes of the season from in a 2-1 win over The Natal Rich Boyz, with the head coach describing his performance as "unbelievable".
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"I'm very happy with the players that started today, especially Ashley [Du Preez]. [The fact that he scored], it's going to give him more confidence going forward," Nabi said in his post-match press conference at Peter Mokaba Stadium.
"Ox, unbelievable performance. [Pule] Mmodi, he did his job very well. But we believe they can do better," he offered.