Royal AM head coach John Maduka is sweating over the recovery of veteran defender Happy Jele, who was stretched off the field during a Nedbank Cup quarter-final clash against Kaizer Chiefs.
Thwihli Thwahla's hopes for silverware this season were turned to dust in a highly contested quarter-final clash with Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday at Chatsworth Stadium in Durban. The clash ended in a 2-1 defeat to the home side.
However, one of the main concerns for Maduka is the possible injury setback to veteran Jele who had to be stretched off after just 20 minutes of action and Maduka admitted that the forced change ultimately influenced the results.
"It could be [that Jele's injury cost us], it could be as well. But also [Lesego] Manganyi came on, I think he did very well but again remember, that time you are still imbalanced, you just lost a key player in a key position," Maduka said.
"So somewhere, somehow it affects [the team], maybe in the concentration, or in the focus but Manganyi came on I think he did well.
"We are still going to wait for the report from the doctors, then we will take it from there. We just hope that it is not something too serious so that we can be able to finish with him the remaining games in the league."
The clash against Chiefs was only Jele's second match this season, after making his long-awaited competitive debut for Thwihli Thwahla against Stellenbosch just a week prior.
Royal AM will hope to return to winning ways when they meet TS Galaxy away on Saturday.
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