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Cape Town - Cape Town City head coach Benni McCarthy has explained that he was forced to substitute Kermit Erasmus late in the Telkom Knockout clash against Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday.
Erasmus gave the Citizens the lead with a cracking long-range effort and was a constant threat for the Chiefs defence throughout the match.
However, the Bafana forward was replaced late on and afterwards Amakhosi scored the equaliser and then went on to win the match on penalties.
It was a repeat of events in a league game against Kaizer Chiefs earlier in the season when Erasmus scored the opener and was replaced only for the visitors to come back and win 2-1.
When asked why he took Erasmus off on Saturday, McCarthy told reporters: "Was he running fine, or was he sitting on the field every five minutes?
"I am just a coach, if a player asks me to be substituted what do you want me to do? Must I keep him on the pitch and leave the fresher guys on the bench?
"Everybody is good enough, if a player wants to come off, if he can't anymore, he comes off, that's it.
"There was no tactical change, he wanted to come off, simple, like the first game against Chiefs, he cried to come off and I took him off."
