Bidvest Wits have been dealt an injury blow with captain Thulani Hlatshwayo unavailable for selection against Bloemfontein Celtic after failing his latest fitness test.

Hlatshwayo missed his side’s 1-0 win over Orlando Pirates after complaining about discomfort in his knee on the morning of the encounter, according to coach Gavin Hunt.

The Bafana Bafana captain joins the list of casualties along with Darren Skeet and Buhle Mkhwanazi, after landing awkwardly in the 3-0 defeat to AmaZulu last week. Wits have confirmed that he will miss the game against Celtic, and most likely also miss Bafana Bafana’s World Cup qualifying replay against Senegal.

‘The squad is thin, there are a lot of injuries. “Tyson” is not back, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be going to Bafana either,’ Hunt told KickOff.

Wits physiotherapist Nick Brink revealed that they have struggled to pinpoint the source of Tyson’s pain.

‘It’s difficult to tell [what the extent of Hlatshwayo’s injury is] at this point in time. We’ve done investigations and we can’t pick anything up, but he’s still struggling,’ Brink said.

‘His pain is coming from behind his knee. The best way to describe it would be a strain at this stage. The MRI scan didn’t pick up anything major, but he was fitness tested today and he wasn’t right,’ he concluded.

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