A SCAN will be done on a thigh injury suffered by Kaizer Chiefs striker Kingston Nkhatha following his early substitution in Saturday's Carling Black Label Cup match against Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium.

There is a possibility Nkhatha might be out for more than a month.

A worried Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter said it could be a week on the sidelines or as long as five weeks out for the Zimbabwean, who got the full impact of the flying knee of Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa when the two went up to challenge for a high ball in the opening 20 minutes of the game.

Nkhatha limped off minutes later and must now wait for a diagnosis to see whether he will be ready for next weekend's start of the season match against Mpumalanga Black Aces in the MTN8 quarterfinals.

"Kingston got quite a considerable smack in the thigh and it's bleeding. It's become very swollen, large and very hard straight away," Baxter said.

"It's difficult to know what the prognosis is going to be because there are two types of bleeding. One is within the muscle and one's around the muscle and it is difficult when it is so swollen and so hard, which it is. One lasts about seven days and one could last about five weeks, so at this moment we are on tenterhooks waiting for a sonar."

If Nkhatha is out, it adds to the injury woes at Amakhosi. "It's not looking good for us as we already have Bernard [Parker] out, Shabba [Siphiwe Tshabalala] out and we don't know what's happening with Knowledge [Musona]."

The Buccaneers reported a clean bill of health even after the distressing picture of fullback Happy Jele being stretchered off with an oxygen mask.

Jele later returned, however, to collect a winner's medal and participate in the post-match celebration after the mighty Buccaneers edged their archrivals on post-match penalties.

Pirates coach Vladimir Vermezovic said: "Happy Jele got a knock on the chest and he couldn't breathe and I didn't want to take any risk."

Vermezovic said a decision about whether Pirates would make any more signings before they start their MTN8 campaign against SuperSport United next Saturday was not up to him.

"You'll have to ask the office about that," he said in a clear reference to the fact that the coach at Pirates has little input into the purchase of players.

Pirates have two Congolese players on trial, but neither Bobo Ungenda nor Eddy Emomo were used in Saturday's match although they were among the substitutes.

Chiefs also did not field their Zimbabwe international trialist Ovidy Kariru, who spent two seasons in France and the past three in Belgium. "Ovidy has been with us a short while. He played against Chippa [United] for a half [a friendly in Port Elizabeth last weekend]. He's been doing OK in training," added Baxter.