AmaZulu FC midfielder Hendrick Ekstein has reflected on his demotion to the reserve team during Brandon Truter’s spell at the club last season.
The 32-year-old midfielder seems to be relishing the lifeline he was given by the club at the start of the second round of the last DStv Premiership season.
Ekstein and his former teammate Thabo Qalinge were frozen out of the first team after Brandon Truter excluded them from his plans. However, Truter had a brief spell with the club as he was sacked a few months after his appointment.
The duo was recalled to the first team by Romain Folz in January. And while Ekstein was retained in the last transfer window, Qalinge was released by the club at the end of the previous campaign.
‘Pule’ says training with AmaZulu team B gave him motivation to stay the course. And having experienced the same at his previous club, Kaizer Chiefs, he wouldn’t easily back down.
HENDRICK SAYS DEMOTION MOTIVATED HIM
“I never look at myself as a big player or an important player, I’m like other players,” said Ekstein during the club’s media open day.
“The only thing I must do is to work hard whenever given a chance. For me to go to the development, I took it as something that would motivate me.
“I never took it as someone who’d say, ‘I was playing for a big team [Kaizer Chiefs] and that going to the reserve team wasn’t a good thing. For me, it’s a good thing because even the boys had to push [me] to also reach that level.
“It was not the first time for me to train with the development, it also happened where I come from.
“So, for me, it motivated me to work hard and I will never blame people. I will never blame a coach or the management, I will blame myself which is maybe I wasn’t doing well for them to take me to the development.”
RELATED STORY: Ekstein and Co eye upset against Chiefs in Carling Knockout
