Real Tamale United boss Alhassan Dawuo was left reeling after influential midfielder Hanan Giwah missed their 3-2 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday due to late injury.
The experienced midfielder was handed a starting berth in midfielder but coach Dawuo was forced to alter his line-up as the 25-year-old limped off during warm-up at the Baba Yara Stadium.
RTU raced into a 12th minute lead through Emmanuel Kwamena but Latif Salifu cancelled the lead before Jordan Opoku put the Blues ahead six minutes before the half-time.
Striker Abdul Aziz Yussif restored parity for the host but Musa Mohammed claimed the maximum points for Chelsea five minutes from time.
Dawuo said: "His substitution affected our game plan because many of our players are on the injury-list already and Hanan also came in and during the warm-up he pulled an injury and couldn't continue with the game. So we had to make an early chance and that alone affected our game."
Dawuo who took over from former Ghana international Mohammed Gago as new coach, admitted his side committed many mistakes during the game.
"In every game you play, there will be some setbacks and definitely we have to go back and address them.