Warriors' nimblefooted winger Tawanda Maswanhise has expressed delight after scoring the goal that helped Zimbabwe book a ticket to the Morocco Afcon finals against Kenya last month.
It was Maswanhise's first goal in the national team colours and it came at a time when he had just hit a purple patch at his Scottish side Motherwell prior to the international break , scoring in two consecutive matches.
The goal-scoring streak coupled with injuries to France-based forward Tino Kadewere and Derby County's Tawanda Chirewa saw Warriors' coach Michael Nees giving the player his first start in the team at Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane, on the right wing.
Maswanhise obliged by breaking the deadlock with a 32nd minute strike, creating space and beating Kenya goalkeeper Bryne Odhiambo with an angled shot from the edge of the box.
Kenya would equalise through Jonah Ayunga early in the second half but a point was all Zimbabwe needed to qualify with a game to spare.
Now back in Scotland, the 22-year-old winger spoke to journalists last Friday about his exploits with the national team ahead of his club's weekend game against Hibernian.
"Obviously I am happy to score for my nation. It's a big achievement and I am obviously looking to score more goals. The goal was to get a point to qualify for the next African Cup of Nations so I am buzzing about that.
"We have the belief and we have the team to compete with bigger teams in Africa so I am happy for that," Maswanhise said.
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"It's a massive, massive, massive achievement (to qualify for Afcon). People now look up to me back home, so hopefully I can do more for my nation.
"Everyone was lively. We hadn't qualified for a few years and it's a big achievement for the whole nation. We got a lot of love.
"The celebrations just show how much we wanted to qualify. Morocco is such a nice country and I hope it will be a good tournament for us there."
Maswanhise is one of the new breed of Warriors stars who were born or brought up in the diaspora and have made an impact after choosing to represent Zimbabwe.
Andy Rinomhota is one such player who has been pivotal in Zimbabwe's latest qualification for the African championships in midfield as well as Chirewa before he got injured and Brendon Galloway.
However, Maswanhise was born in Harare and moved to the UK as a toddler.
Other players from the diaspora, who have represented Zimbabwe in the past include Macauley Bonne, Tendayi Darikwa, Adam Chicksen, Alec Mudzimu and Tivonge Rushesha among others.
The former Leicester City player also spoke about the travel challenges going back home from the international break, which saw him arrive two hours before his club's trip to Ross County and was a second half substitute in a 2 - 1 loss last weekend.
"There were delays from connecting flights so I got back late and the gaffer spoke to me about not starting," he said.
"I only had a couple of hours and then up the road. It was literally just a change of clothes and then up the road.
"It was a bit of a shambles, but you have just got to deal with it and look forward to this weekend. Hopefully I can continue my form and last week is out the window now."
