FORMER POLICEMAN FLUFFS 2 IN DERBY BUT MAKES 2

missed what could only be described as an open goal, which if anything was worse than his failure from the spot. He was pulled off two thirds through the game by coach Micho Sredojevic, who has spoken of his challenge in trying to get Shonga to be a consistent contributor. Though this Soweto Derby worked out well, it might well have been a different story had Shonga been made to pay for his misses in front of goal. The 21-year-old, who left his job as a policeman to join Pirates at the start of last season, has bags of potential, but faces the prospect of being defined by his misses. He remains an asset for Zambia though, having scored five goals in his last six games for Chipolopolo, including in the backto-back Nations Cup qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau earlier this month.

“The first question we asked him when he arrived back from the national team was whether he’d brought his scoring boots with him,” Sredojevic told reporters this month.

“He has had his problems in July and August, but he has improved a lot since and I believe he is back where he is supposed to be - with the starting team.

“But it will not come out automatically. He needs to be fully focused on our jersey, that the scoring boots are transferred to the black-and-white jersey of Orlando Pirates.

I know that a striker only gets confidence when he scores, but he now has two good injections of confidence because of the two goals for the national team.”

Shonga will be back in action for Pirates on Saturday when they travel to AmaZulu for a Telkom Knockout quarter-final.