Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana defender Bongani Khumalo played a reserve fixture for Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night but remains on loan at English Championship Reading.

Khumalo joined the Royals from Spurs for the 2011/12 season, but has found first-team opportunities hard to come by and has not been in the starting XI since August.

Reading do not have a reserve team and so Khumalo has been allowed to play for Spurs while he tries to work his way back to full fitness after an ankle problem. The 24-year-old played on Tuesday night as Spurs beat QPR 6-2.

Khumalo played the first five games of the season for the Royals, but as they struggled to pick up points, he was discarded to the stands.

He has had battles with injury for much of the remainder of the time since then, which have also kept him out of action for Bafana Bafana.

It is still possible that he will seek an exit from Reading in January and the player’s agent, Glyn Binkin, is indeed in England at the moment. Binkin admitted last week that “all options were open” with regards Khumalo’s future.

“Obviously he is an international player and wants to be in the first team,” Binkin said. “He is ready to fight for a place in the team, but if it looks like he will not get back in, then a move elsewhere is an option. In fact, all options are open at this stage.”