SuperSport United coach Eric Tinkler is concerned the frequency of match days could soon take its toll on Evans Rusike who was signed from Maritzburg United in January.

The striker joined Pretoria based-side on the last day of the transfer window and immediately became a regular in the first team. He looks set to lead the frontline for the rest of the campaign and help the side to make their top eight target by May.

“He is experiencing something different here, he played for Maritzburg, and they only played one game every seven days. Now he is playing a game every three days – he’s not used to that,” Tinkler said in an interview with IOL, a news website.

“Yes, it’s good that he is fresh because when the rest of us were playing CAF (Confederation Cup) games he wasn’t. We also have to kind of wrap him in cotton wool. We have to be careful.”

Rusike has scored just once in the five games he has featured in for SuperSport since arriving. He played the whole ninety minutes in last night’s 2-0 loss against Ajax Cape Town.