Cape Town City manager Eric Tinkler admits he is delighted his captain Lebohang Manyama remained unscathed upon his return to the field of play.
Manyama came on as a second-half substitute during their 2-0 win over Polokwane City in their opening Premiership fixture on Tuesday evening.
Manyama provided an assist for the second goal which Aubrey Ngoma finished to put the result beyond doubt but Tinkler is just happy to have the former Ajax Cape Town playmaker on the field.
"Lebo has been out with an injury and the whole of the pre-season," he told reporters. "He broke three meniscus about 28 weeks ago and his recovery has been slow since I have been at the club.
"So we had to be careful on how we handle him and fortunately we didn't get him in any activity that would create tackles or anything like that."
"It was bit of a risk to be honest playing him as I did. I thought I could use him for 20 or 25 minutes but we ended up bringing him on with 36 minutes still to play," Tinkler added.
"He came through unscathed which is good for us and now it will help him with preparation going to the game against Chiefs."
Cape Town City will take on Amakhosi in the MTN8 at Cape Town Stadium on Friday evening.