Chippa United coach Kwanele Kopo has explained why he substituted goal scorer Andile Jali at halftime during his side’s 2-1 defeat to Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday.

Jali, playing against his former club after joining Chippa in the offseason, had opened the scoring with a spectacular strike in the 22nd minute.

“Andile was struggling with a hamstring issue,” Kopo revealed in a post-match interview on SuperSport TV. “It was a risk to start him, considering he had only trained for three days. However, we needed his experience, character, and technical ability. Once we lost him at halftime, we struggled to maintain our defensive structure.”

Kopo admitted that Chippa had difficulties containing Orlando Pirates’ Man of the Match, Monnapule Saleng. Despite making adjustments, they couldn’t prevent Saleng from creating chances and eventually scoring the winning goal.

“We instructed our players not to follow Saleng when he dropped deep, as they were often looking to exploit the space behind,” Kopo explained. “Before the penalty, he did this three times, and we struggled to contain him on that side of the field. Ayabulela Konqobe was having difficulty providing cover, and Andile wasn’t shifting across to help. Late in the second half, we moved Baraka Magojoro to the left-hand side, which helped stabilize our defense a bit, but Saleng was simply too sharp, and we didn’t provide enough cover.”