Phillip Ndlondlo has established himself as a crowd favourite at Orlando Pirates - but it is at Izinyoka FC where his skills were honed.
Standing at just 1.61 metres, Ndlondlo is amongst the shortest players in the DStv Premiership; however, the midfielder juggernaut has a heart of a lion!
Part of his character, which he has had to develop due to his height, was at amateur side Izinyoka FC where up until 2019, Ndlondlo was still perfecting his craft.
The 26-year-old formed part of the Duduza-based outfit out in the East Rand and played in the SAB Men's Regional League before helping the club gain promotion to the ABC Motsepe League.
Those in the know describe 'Teko' as the referred to him at the club, after his hero and former Orlando Pirates fan favourite Teko Modise as the heartbeat of the club, who could pull a rabbit out of a hat.
After time spent at Izinyoka, Ndlondlo would test himself on another level in 2018, this time testing his skills at the AmaZulu DStv Diski Team.
He played a season at Usuthu before moving onto his next challenge, which would come in the form of Tshakhuma Tsha Madzvhandila.
Here Ndlondlo would get his first taste of professional football and managed to form part of the club as they underwent a name change to what is now known as Marumo Gallants.
Talking to the Siya crew about his tough journey to the top in an interview last year, Ndlondlo revealed how he needed to overcome his own self-doubt in order to fulfil his dreams of playing professionally.
"With my journey, I come a long way. I even reached a stage where I felt that this thing of football is not going to take me anywhere, I need to change and do something else in order to progress. But then there's a saying that goes, "when the going gets tough, the tough gets going" and I think that's been my motto and it helped me to never give up because when I thought of giving up – I look at where I am now, it shows that I needed to push and also have patience at the same time because without patience you'll never reach your destination as it introduces challenges that you can be able to overcome, although it takes some time.
"So through the journey that I have been on, it helped me be the person that I am today because I've been through some difficult things and they really helped me and they built me and me made me stronger into the person that I am today so I'm really grateful for the challenges that I've been through and also the people that have been helping me throughout, I wouldn't forget them because they have been helping me throughout my life. I'll always cherish them for the support that they gave me," he said at the time.
Ndlondlo joined the Buccaneers from Gallants in September last year and has already tasted success with the club. He played a key role in Pirates' double in the form of the MTN8 and the Nedbank Cup last season.
