Cape Town - Deano van Rooyen and Ashley du Preez are closer than brothers.
The pair grew up together in the same household with Du Preez’s mother, who is Van Rooyen’s aunt, having taken the Stellenbosch FC midfielder in from a young age to further his education.
It is a bond that grew even stronger when the Idas Valley duo joined Stellenbosch FC at the same time back in 2015/16 whilst still teenagers.
But last Sunday at the Danie Craven Stadium they found themselves on opposing teams for the first time after Du Preez’s highprofile move to Kaizer Chiefs in the off-season.
There was a possibility that Du Preez was not going to be ready for the clash after picking up an injury.
But Du Preez passed a late fitness test and went on to score the all-important equaliser for Amakhosi. Although Du Preez did not celebrate his goal out respect for everyone at Stellies that has done so much for him during the fledgling stages of his career, his joy was paramount as he unleashed a shriek of delight walking back towards the halfway line.
The contrasting fortunes for the duo increased even further when Van Rooyen missed his penalty in the shoot-out that allowed Chiefs to take the spoils and advance to the MTN8 semi-finals.
It was a heartbreaking moment for Stellenbosch FC, and no doubt Du Preez would have felt the pain his “brother” Van Rooyen was enduring at that stage.
Life goes on though, especially in the world of professional football, and Du Preez will need to put away his Stellenbosch loyalties and instead learn to deal with the pressures of being at a club of Chiefs’ stature.
Players at Amakhosi are constantly under the microscope, especially newly-acquired strikers with big reputations like Du Preez.
It is for this reason that Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane is treating Du Preez with kid-gloves at the moment, especially after the groin injury he sustained against Maritzburg United.
“We welcomed back Du Preez after missing about three games, and you could see he was a bit flat because of fitness. We were also worried, as much as we played him, but we were also cautious because we didn’t want to break him again or see him get another injury, so we tried to manage him,” Zwane said.
In just a short space of time Du Preez has certainly become an integral part of Zwane’s plans going forward with the 25-year-old already netting two goals in three appearances.
Zwane, though, believes that Du Preez will only get stronger as the season progresses.
“We knew that he was not going to finish the game but what was key was for him to score the goal because that will boost his confidence, and in the next game, he should be better than this in terms of performance and he might be able to score even more goals, so we are happy to have him back,” the Amakhosi coach added.
Chiefs’ next game is against AmaZulu at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.
@ZaahierAdams