Jeremy Brockie says he feels like he’s just turned over a new leaf after scoring his first official goal for Mamelodi Sundowns – 13 months after joining them from crosstown rivals SuperSport United.
The Kiwi-born striker was becoming frustrated with himself for shooting blanks and was beginning to spend more time either on the bench or in the stands as coach Pitso Mosimane had to make do with other options.
Gaston Sirino, a midfielder, was played as a striker in recent matches to make up for Brockie’s poor form, and so too was Toni Silva, a natural winger.
“The hardest part was to try and deal with this mentality,” Brockie said a day after breaking his duck in Sundowns’ 3-1 Absa Premiership victory over Free State Stars on Wednesday night at Loftus.
“Since I arrived in the country (January 2015) I have been scoring goals consistently and then I got the move that I wanted to Sundowns.
“I knew it was going to be difficult, but I thought I would have adapted a little bit quicker and that it would have been a little easier for me, but the longer the time goes without scoring the more pressure you put on yourself and the more people start talking – hide behind their phones on social media and give you a lot of stick, by the way most of them are Pirates and Chiefs fans.”
Brockie is obviously desperate to build on that one, but very significant, goal he scored in the midweek fixture. Sundowns host Pirates this afternoon in a top of the table league clash at the same venue where the striker finally got the monkey off his back.
“I think the eight or nine games I was sitting on the sidelines gave me enough time to think, spend time with the family and get a lot of support,” he said.
“I feel very good now because the first one is out of the way, hopefully they start flowing in a little bit more and I can keep myself in the starting eleven and help the club get to the top of the table.”
Another one of the arguments prior to Brockie scoring was that the Brazilians’ style of play did not suit him – as well as the suggestion that they were also not playing to his strengths, trying to turn him into a player that he isn’t.
“I think the way we played (against Stars), yes. We spoke about it a lot in the pre-match meeting, the coach said we needed to get more balls and crosses into the box for the likes of myself to get on the end of. Although the cross didn’t find me directly and was a mistake from a defender, it allowed me to score the goal,” the striker explained.
“I think if we can stick to that, not the whole time, and there are crosses coming into the box, which is a strength of mine, then we will see more goals than not.”
FIXTURES
Today
: Golden Arrows v Baroka FC, Mamelodi Sundowns v Orlando Pirates (both 3.30pm kick-offs); Kaizer Chiefs v Chippa United (Moses, Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban, 6pm); Free State Stars v SuperSport United, Bidvest Wits v Bloemfontein Celtic (both 8.15pm)
Tomorrow: AmaZulu v Polokwane City, Cape Town City v Black Leopards (both 3.30pm)