Ndah debuts out of position

Gavin Hunt was pleased with a competent job by debutant Olisah Ndah in midfield despite not having played previously in the position and also having been without league football for more than a year.

Injury to Ibraheem Jabaar and suspension to Mthetheleli Mthinyane meant a shortage in the midfield for Stellenbosch as they went into Saturday’s Betway Premiership clash against Chippa United.

“We had to make a few plans there,” explained Hunt after the 2-1 victory at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.

Ndah was asked to play in the defensive midfield role, sitting in front of the back four in what was his first match since arriving at Stellenbosch.

It took a month for him to get a work permit after his contract at Orlando Pirates was cancelled at the end of January.

Ndah had not played a competitive match since September 2024, hampered by injury and then unable to get back into the Pirates side.

“He's a decent footballer but he hasn't played for a long time. So I said to him, ‘look, you know, we don't really have midfield players available. So I'm going to play you there’. He looked at me like his eyes were like saucers. ‘Are you crazy or what?’ I said, ‘yeah, I am crazy.’ But I mean it would be easier for him, you know? He’s not going to be under pressure. It's less pressure in there. You’ve got time on the ball and he can pass, he can play. But obviously he hasn't played football in a long time,” Hunt explained.

“I didn't want to break up the back four that we've had for the last couple of games. There's a good old saying, ‘don't make two changes to make a change’. 

“I didn't want to change the back four so I just made one change, put him back in there. It sounds clever, but I had to do something. You can't just do nothing, you know?” the coach added.