Kudakwashe Mahachi is hoping to establish himself as a key player under coach Milutin Sredojevic following an unsuccessful debut season at Orlando Pirates.

The Zimbabwean attacker was part of the Bucs team which finished as runners-up in the Absa Premiership and Telkom Knockout Cup during the recently completed domestic campaign.

Machachi have a full assessment on his first season with the Buccaneers after joining the club at the start of thr 2018-19 season.

‘I think I had a decent season at Orlando Pirates because it was my first season with them. I had some stuff like losing my mother which affected me a lot. I need to keep working hard to earn my place for next season because Pirates is a big club,’ Mahachi said.

‘We’ve got a quality team and coaches, well structured, we are one and we have to continue where we left off, work hard as a team to make sure we win something this coming season.’

Mahachi added that he would like to play his part in helping Zimbabwe reach the knockout stages of the African Cup of Nations tournament in Egypt.

‘The tournament is for the national team, not for me only as an individual,’ he insisted. ‘We are going there for a second time in a row, we will go there to do well and we’re hoping we won’t make the same mistakes we made in Gabon. We would like to step up and reach the knockout stages.’