Soon after reaching a milestone of 50 appearances with Golden Arrows, defender Thabani Zuke has set his sights on a century with the club.

The 23-year-old has opened up about how tough it has been since he joined the club in 2016 from their development side as he struggled to break into the starting lineup under previous coaches.

And having become a regular player now, he feels this is the result of his patience as he had to wait for his chance to start playing.

“It was not an easy road because when I joined the team, I was not part of other coaches who were here before. So I started playing under coach Steve [Komphela], then-coach Mandla [Ncikazi] and [Lehlohonolo] Seema,” Zuke explained.

“It was difficult, but I’m very happy that I managed to reach this milestone in the end and am looking forward to the future with the club.

"My wish now is to get to 100 appearances because there are players who I played with in the past and they have reached that like Nkosinathi Sibisi and others, so that’s encouraging for me.”

His consistent performances saw him receive his first call-up to the Bafana Bafana team during the World Cup qualifiers last year against Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.

Even though he was not called for the recent Bafana friendlies against Guinea and France, he insists that didn’t disappoint him as he can play as a centre-back, central midfielder, and a right-back and that the door will always be open in the future.

“I don’t know why I was not called, but I was once there before as a central midfielder for matches against Ethiopia and Zimbabwe,” he said. “Recently, I was not called and I was not disappointed. I would have been happy if I was selected to play against France and Guinea, but it didn’t happen.

“But they were able to take my partner Sibisi and I was happy for him. I just have to continue working hard for Arrows and we will see what happens.”