Inspirational midfielder, Siphiwe Tshabalala has revealed that he has been working ‘extra hard’ and now it is starting to ‘pay off’.

‘Shabba’ had to wait for even longer to don the gold and black this year after sustaining an injury just before Absa Premiership fixture against Jomo Cosmos mid-February having signed a three-year extension to the Club.

“I was eager to play after all the ‘contract talk’ had come to an end but I got injured at training,” said Shabba speaking to kaizerchiefs.com ahead of the clash against Black Leopards at Soccer City Complex on Tuesday evening.

It was clear that Shabba had been working hard and it showed when the players returned in January. When Physical Trainer, Joshua Smith took the players through their paces the Phiri born midfielder proved to be one of the fittest players in the team.

“It all boils down to hard work so I always push myself harder in training. I also spend time on the gym working on my conditioning and it is starting to pay out.

“It is important that as senior players and everyone we lead from the front and play for the badge. There is still lot of football to be played this season.

Tshabalala on his first game in 2012 was instrumental as the Glamour Boys nearly staged a dramatic comeback against rivals Orlando Pirates having taken an early 3 goal lead.

He won the Man of the Match award against as Chiefs pushed Bloemfontein Celtic aside in Polokwane before sitting out due to suspension against Golden Arrows.

Last Saturday, given an armband in the absence of regular captain, Itumeleng Khune and some of the members starting from the bench ‘Shabba’ had one of his best games in the gold and black and was involved in all the four goals scored by Lehlohonolo Majoro.

“It was a good performance from everyone in the team,” he told kaizerchiefs.com playing down his performances on the evening.

“We need to quickly forget about this victory as we have Black Leopards again on Tuesday,” added Shabba.

Meanwhile tickets for the Absa Premiership game against Black Leopards at Soccer City Complex on Tuesday, 06 April 2012 are still on sale at Shoprite/Checkers and Computicket countrywide.

Kick-off is at 19H30.