Brockie Set Sights On Double Figures

Jeremy Brockie is confident that he will have the last laugh at the end of the season with his sights firmly on the reaching double figures now that he has ended his scoring drought.

The New Zealand forward scored his first goal in the Absa Premiership in over a year in Mamelodi Sundowns’ 3-1 drubbing of Free State Stars on Wednesday at Loftus Versfeld. The goal ended a long wait for the deadly forward who joined the Brazilians with high expectations.

“I always want to get into double figures,” Brockie said. “I want to challenge for the Golden Boot in the league. The top scorer is only on four goals. I have gone 13 months without finding the back of the net and after scoring my first goal, I am only three goals behind the Golden Boot leader. Winning the Golden Boot a goal for every striker and I am no different.”

The Kiwi opened his account, in a competitive match, in style with a well-taken volley against Ea Lla Koto.

“It’s been a long time without a goal,” Brockie said. “It’s been difficult since I arrived. I haven’t been featuring in the team in the last couple of months. Mentally I had to stay strong and keep myself fit so that when the opportunity comes, I had to make sure that I made the most of it. Hopefully I did that and can keep my place on Saturday. I actually felt quite confident on Monday when I knew that I was going to be starting. I felt confident and I told a few people that I feel like that I am going to break the ice. What better way to do it than with a nice volley that was setup for me to put in the back of the net.

“Now that the first one is out of the way in a competitive game, hopefully they’ll start flowing a little bit more and I can keep my place in the starting XI so that I can help this club go into the top of the table where we belong.”

Brockie will look to add to his goals tally on Saturday against Orlando Pirates in what is a mouth-watering clash in the Absa Premiership at Loftus. Pirates sit at the summit with 22 points. The reigning league champions are in third place – five points behind the Buccaneers with three games in hand.

“I have got a very good record of scoring goals against Pirates,” Brockie said. “I’ve got some good memories of Nedbank Cup final wins over them. It’s an important game. They are at the top of the table and they have been doing well, transforming to the Pirates of old. Hopefully we can get the result in front of our fans. We haven’t been playing the best of football. But to score three goals against Free State Stars was very rewarding.”