Amakhosi midfielder Tinashe Nengomasha had a lot to smile about on Monday as he played fourty five minutes of a friendly practice match for Chiefs, as he takes another giant leap on the road to regaining his full match fitness.

The Zimbabwean international returned to Chiefs around a fortnight ago after a proposed move abroad did not work out as planned, and he has been labouring extra hard in working his way back to being match ready.

“Bit by bit I can feel that I am getting back to where I would like my fitness levels to be at”, Tinashe revealed to kaizerchiefs.com, before going on to discuss Monday’s friendly game as he added.

“I did some training on my own and then played for forty five minutes in the friendly match, it felt good to go through a game to see where I am in terms of my match fitness. I feel that I still have some way to go and I am hoping to be where I need to be optimally in terms of my sharpness by the end of the week.”

As he battles his way towards being match fit, Tinashe is aware that he will face another challenge once he is ready to play again, of this he explained saying. “The coach has emphasized since the beginning that we all have to fight for our place in the team and that no one is guaranteed a place in the starting eleven.

Seeing the opening two games of the season the MTN 8 match and the league game game against Arrows I know that I am going to have to dig deep and fight hard to win back my place, the guys are looking hungry and have been very impressive against Celtic and Arrows. I know what I am up against and am willing to put in all the effort to ensure that I make it back into the team.”