One of the few positives to come out of Amakhosi’s defeat at Chippa United in their last DStv Premiership outing was the re-emergence of Siyethemba Sithebe in the Chiefs engine room.

Sithebe put in a solid performance in very difficult circumstances on a heavy, sodden pitch drenched by continuous rainfall.

“I am really happy to have got back into the team and be given a chance to make a strong comeback, playing the full 90 minutes. I am proud of myself for that,” he tells www.kaizerchiefs.com, as the team prepares for their trip to Umlazi to play Richards Bay on Sunday.

The Newcastle-born 31-year-old came close to a spectacular late equaliser against the Chilli Boys when his fierce half-volley looked to be heading for the top corner until it was miraculously blocked by debutant goalkeeper, Darren Johnson.

“I thought it was going in, but eish, it was one of those days when you don’t have the luck,” he laughs wryly.

The match against the Natal Rich Boyz offers Cavin Johnson’s team a good opportunity to turn around their recent run of indifferent results leading to dropped points by putting in a dominant display against a side struggling to stay afloat in the division.

“Obviously we are concerned,” Sithebe admits, “Especially when we look at some of the games where we made a lot of opportunities but the ball just wasn’t going into the net. As players, we need to pull up our socks and keep working as hard as we can in the remaining games.”

Sithebe dismisses any notion of an easy game against an opponent near the foot of the table, anticipating a tough challenge that will require full commitment from Chiefs to overcome them.

“They are near the bottom of the log and fighting for their survival, so it’s going to be a hard match, but we need those points just as much and therefore we will be going all out to beat them,” he says, adding that the Club still maintains lofty ambitions for the remainder of the campaign, “We want to first secure our place in the top eight, but we want more than that. We still want to qualify for a CAF competition next season.”

In conclusion, the dreadlocked midfielder recognises the responsibility on the team to reward the loyalty of the fanbase that backs them through good times and bad, by giving everything for the badge out on the park, saying, “After the disappointing recent results, it’s important for us to give the fans something to enjoy because they always support us even when we have not been winning our games.”