The first bit of action taken by Serge Djiehoua after Chiefs' 6-1 thumping of Maritzburg United on Sunday afternoon was to call his native Ivory Coast and convey the news of Chiefs victory to his number one fan.

Who is that person one might ask? Well it is none other then his father Americo Djiehoua who has from a distance kept a close eye on his sons progress over the last year.

As the 2005 – 2006 season started out on a high note for Serge, it all took a turn for the worse after he had picked up, what looked like a career threatening injury in a league game against Jomo Cosmos on the 21st September 2005. Serge was out of action for more than six months, although he did make a handful of substitute appearances after that it has taken him more than a year to get back to the same kind of form that he was showing prior to his injury.

Sunday’s phone call back home to the Ivory Coast was made all the more special for Serge as he was one of the goal scorers during the win of Maritzburg United, as he scored minutes after entering the field as a second half substitute. In typical Serge fashion he ran to the Chiefs fans who joined him in his trademark Robot Serge celebration, and the joy at scoring his first goal in fifteen months for Chiefs was clearly evident on his face.

Speaking on Monday morning, Serge said of Sunday’s game, “I feel as though I am born again, after the game I was over the moon and I phoned home and gave them the news and it was nice to hear my parents so ecstatic with my achievements”.

Djiehoua believes that with his goal on Sunday a great psychological block has been broken down, and he can now build on what was achieved against Maritzburg United.

“I have been training my heart out towards getting back into contention and recently the coach did add me to his eighteen man squad, and I knew that with continued perseverance my chance will come. Now that I have scored I need to continue the momentum and carry on training hard and fight to play more regularly, my mind is at ease as I have opened up my account for the new season,” added a really buoyant Djiehoua.

With Santos up next for Chiefs Serge is looking towards adding his name to the score sheet for a second time in as many games as Chiefs round off the new year, “I will carry on working in training and would like to play against Santos on Wednesday. We know that it will be a tougher game on Wednesday; I enjoy playing against players who are very physical. Santos has a number of very strong players and I would like to test myself against them, should I be given the opportunity on Wednesday I feel that I could help the team end the year on a high note,” said Serge.

Serge most definitely has a spring in his step at the moment and it showed in training on Monday morning, as he continued to labour on and once again impressed the Chiefs coaching staff. Serge’s up turn in form and fortune has once again given coach Ernst Middendorp a welcome selection problem, added to an upbeat Serge the Chiefs coach has fully fit squad to choose from, along with a number of inform players to choose from.