Orlando Pirates were dealt a huge blow on Saturday evening as they were forced to play the majority of their Absa Premiership clash with Bloemfontein Celtic without two key players.
The Buccaneers were without midfielder Thembinkosi Lorch and defender Innocent Maela from the start of the game, with the latter being sent off for denying Christian Saile Basomboli a clear goalscoring opportunity on the hour-mark.
To compensate for the loss of Maela, Pirates sacrificed Lorch, who had been the bright spark in their attack, and brought on defender Ndah. Interim coach Xolani Almenara explained why they decided to withdraw Lorch, saying they needed a centre-back and fresh legs to run into space, as they were forced to defend deep in their own half.
“Like I said, before we needed to re-adjust after the red-card of Ino and we needed one centre-back, we needed some fresh legs because we were going to spend time in a low block. So we needed people to run into the space,” Almenara said in a post-match press conference.
The Pirates technical team also made a decision in the line-up that raised eyebrows, as they played Paseko Mako, a left-footed player, at right-back, with Thabiso Monyane available on the bench.
