What irony there is as Chiefs veteran midfielder Thabo Mooki revels in the ecstasy of returning to first team football - there can be no such happiness for defender Fabian McCarthy who will miss The Amakhosi’s crucial PSL game on Saturday evening against Bush Bucks at the FNB Stadium. Mooki who has been suffering from a calf injury since Chiefs returned from the Christmas break in January, began training with the rest of his team mates a week ago and is ready for the run into the season.

Mooki’s return to action is a welcome relief for Coach Ernst Middendorp as the coach sees the thirty one year old midfield orchestrator’s inclusion in Chiefs next three games as crucial to Chiefs title hopes. As the coach says “Thabo is an intelligent player and holds the midfield together well, having him back will be a breath of fresh air for us, Thabo’s experience will definitely count in our favour”.

Thabo for his part cannot wait to get back into action and is literally glad to see the back of this episode as Thabo adds “it was frustrating sitting on the side lines for such a lengthy period of time and being on the verge coming back has really motivated me and I am hyped up and ready for this weekend’s game and will be happy to see some game time”.

While Thabo is revelling in his reclaimed fitness defender Fabian McCarthy will be out of action when Chiefs meet Imbabala this weekend, McCarthy collected his sixth yellow card of the season. This means that he will be serving his third suspension of the season after collecting three yellow cards earlier in the campaign. He missed out on Chiefs Coca Cola Cup game against Cosmos back in November - Fabian was then sent off against Silver Stars in a league game which saw him miss another game. In Chiefs 1-0 defeat against Classic Fabian received his sixth yellow card adding to the ones he collected against Free State Stars and Jomo Cosmos.

The normally reliable and hard working defender was not happy with the reasons he was given for being cautioned against Classic and responded by saying “ when the referee pulled out the card I just threw my hands over my head. I think it was a little harsh and I did not deserve a booking for that challenge,” said McCarthy.

The Amakhosi faithful will in all likelihood get to see an old favourite in action when Chiefs meet Bush Bucks in a must win encounter at the FNB Stadium on Saturday evening. Kick off for the game is at 20h00 and tickets are currently available at Computicket outlets country wide as well as Checkers & Shoprite Stores.