Bruised and battered – A Pirates’ line-up of injured and forgotten players

Orlando Pirates’ injury woes are somewhat stressing to the Buccaneers technical team, so much so that an entire starting line-up can be made of limping and socked off players.

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Despite some unfavorable results here and there, the Soweto giants have played some pretty decent football without their popular names in the squad.

In their last 2-1 defeat to Chiefs, Pirates’ seemed to be a better side with stats showing they had over 60 percent of ball possession, more shots on target and made over 500 passes, 200 more than Amakhosi.

Prior to the Chiefs game, co-coach Mandla Ncikazi stated that the number of players who are currently unavailable at the club due to injuries are capable of forming a strong squad and he was unable to recall all of them.

“Please forgive me if I forget some (guys who are injured), that’s how much we have in terms of injuries,” said the Bucs coach two weeks ago.

“Richard Ofori is still out, Wayne Sandilands is recovering from an injury. Innocent Maela is still out, Happy Jele is out – he has done his operation. Zakhele Lepasa is going through rehab, Thembinkosi Lorch is also going through rehab. For us it’s just a whole team list that is on the outside, without complaining.”

With that in mind, we have compiled a Bucs starting line-up, made out of the players who are nursing injuries, including Ben Motshwari and Gabadinho Mhango, who have been sidelined since their bad publicity a couple of weeks ago. Ntsikelelo Nyauza, who last featured for the club in their 3-1 victory against Chippa United after coming on as a second half substitute also makes the list and so does the forgotten Nkanyiso Zungu.

Goalkeeper : Richard Ofori

Defenders : Happy Jele, Innocent Maela, Wayde Jooste, Ntsikelelo Nyauza

Midfielders: Ben Motshwari, Vincent Pule, Thembinkosi Lorch, Thabiso Monyane

Strikers: Zakhele Lepasa, Gabadinho Mhango