Eymael slams Keita for costing Twala

Cape Town - Free State Stars coach Luc Eymael has slammed his defender Bangaly Keita for going off injured in Tuesday's 2-0 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs.

Eymael believes the centre-back was not honest about the extent of a niggling hamstring injury he had going into the game, and it subsequently meant he went off injured at a critical time in the contest.

The under-pressure Belgian takes the view that Keita's injury relapse meant that winger William Twala was not afforded the chance to play against the Glamour Boys.

He said: "Keita... he lay down on the ground at the 40th minute. I'm not happy because during the day yesterday [Monday] he went to the physio to say, 'Yeah my hamstring is tight'. The physio called me and after that I called [and] he said 'No,no, no problem coach, I will play, I'm 100 percent I'm okay'.

"I said are you sure? Don't make me lose a substitution and don't be injured after 30 minutes. You saw what happened because he is a bit responsible on the first goal.

"People were expecting Twala to shine? Yes, me too. But you know because I lost this substitution with Keita, unfortunately I couldn't change you know.

"I had to introduce Rooi (Mahamutsa) for Keita, and then I lost a substitution automatically because of a substitution for an injury."