Thatayaone Ditlhokwe's delight of captaining Botswana to only their second ever qualification for the AFCON finals will come with the return to the stress of lack of minutes at Kaizer Chiefs.
Ditlhokwe has only played 34 minutes this season after coming on as a substitute in the 4-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns following Inacio Miguel's sending off.
His preferred position as left central defence has been taken by Rushwin Dortley, who has been so impressive that he has moved on to becoming a regular in the Bafana Bafana team.
This has left Ditlhokwe having to wait in the queue for minutes with Nasreddine Nabi having chosen to use new signings for four of the five positions at the back, which include goalkeeper and four defenders.
Bradley Cross has settled in at left-back, the other position that the Botswana captain can play.
The fact that Chiefs went into the market to strengthen in the two positions that the Zebras captain plays was the clearest indication of what stood ahead of him.
Amakhosi also have the injured Edmilson Dove and the emerging pair of Aiden McCarthy and Xolani Cossa as the other options at left central defence.
Impressive about Ditlhokwe is that despite his situation at the club this season, he hasn't shown any signs of rust in captaining Botswana to qualifying for their second AFCON finals.
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The 26-year-old has played from start to finish in all six matches played in September, October, and November.
With what he is faced with at Naturena, there will be good reason to consider other options during the January transfer window.