Orlando Pirates striker Zakhele Lepasa says the current Buccaneers squad is the best he's ever played with after scoring a hat-trick on Saturday evening.
Defending champions Pirates reached the semi-finals after goals by Monnapule Saleng and Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo added to Lepasa's hat-trick.
Lepasa was loaned out to SuperSport United in January this year after not getting game time at the Buccaneers and there was uncertainty about his future in the off-season but he has revealed that Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza is one who insisted that he comes back and gave him all the confidence he has now.
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"First of all I want to thank God for the opportunity, I want to thank the chairman for believing in me because he's the one who said 'You must come back, we need you, you need to work harder'," Lepasa told SuperSport TV.
"Because he knows what I'm capable of from playing in the development, how I used to score goals, he's the one who brought all this confidence in me and the guys the way they welcomed me back like I never went, so I'm very happy.
"To be honest, this is probably the best team I ever played with and I'm including everyone, even the ones that are not here yet, people are injured, our squad is out of this world," he said.
"I think I'm just lucky to be at the finishing end of every move but ja, this is a good squad, a lot of quality, a lot of competition, so I'm just doing my best to work hard."
The Bafana Bafana striker went on and said nothing much has changed in his game after scoring five goals in two consecutive matches and the only thing that lacked was putting the ball in the back of the net.
"I think this is who I have been in the past seasons, I've just been unlucky not to score goals. Let's be honest, I've been working hard, I've been running, all I have been criticized for is not to put the ball in the back of the net," he said.
"If I would change that about my game I would probably be far by now but it's all in God's hands. I'll continue to work hard, stay humble and I just hope I continue to score, that it doesn't end there."
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