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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
RED-HOT forward Macauley Bonne, who faces a defining week in his quest to represent Zimbabwe in international football, got a perfect 24th birthday present on Sunday with a fifth goal, in six games, to help Charlton Athletic hold West Bromwich 2-2 at the Hawthorns on Saturday. Bonne turned 24 on Saturday and, for the fifth game in half-a-dozen matches, he was on target for Charlton Athletic.

‘’Wow, thanks for all the birthday messages, reading every one,’’ the striker said on Twitter. ‘’Most of all, buzzing to get another goal and amazed at the support this great club has — it lifts us all!

‘’Enjoy your weekend and thanks again!’’

Bonne, whom the English media believe could be the next Jamie Vardy, has been unstoppable in the past six games after initially appearing to struggle, at the beginning of the season, to adjust to the challenges of the English Championship.

The free-scoring forward, who has one cap and one goal for the Warriors, was plucked from non-league football after making a huge impression with his goal-scoring prowess.

However, after a couple of matches at the start of the season, in which he seemed to struggle, some of the analysts were beginning to question the wisdom to invest in his services.

They argued there was a huge difference between non-league football and the Championship and Bonne was being exposed by the quality of the defenders he was now coming up against.

However, after a number of regular forwards were lost to injuries, Charlton Athletic boss Lee Bowyer was forced to turn to Bonne and, since then, he has been irresistible.

‘’HE IS RED HOT AT THE MOMENT!” There’s no stopping @MBonne9,’’ Charlton Athletic tweeted after the game against West Bromwich Albion.

This is a crucial week for Bonne with Warriors team manager, Wellington Mpandare, telling The Herald the events in the next few days will decide whether the striker finally gets his Zimbabwean passport he needs to play for the Warriors.

‘’We have received support from the Minister of Sport (Kirsty Coventry) and we have taken the documents where they are supposed to be and we are confident that something will happen in the coming days,’’ Mpandare said.

‘’The quality that Bonne is showing at the moment shows why we have been saying that we badly need him in our team.

‘’He is a top notch striker and he can make a huge difference to our side and the good thing is that he wants to play for his country and has been ready for months now.

‘’It’s one thing saying this player is good, and he doesn’t want to play for us, but it’s another thing when the player is coming out to say that he wants to represent Zimbabwe and here we are talking of a top, top player.

‘’The Championship is a tough league, it’s just one rung lower than the English Premiership and for one to score as many goals, at a new club, shows he is really good.’’

Charlton needed a dramatic late goal to steal a point against a West Bromwich side that appears good enough to make it into the Premiership at the end of the campaign.

“I’ve said to the players “we should be higher in the league” because we’re a good side,’’ Bowyer told the media after the match.

‘’Now they have to start believing because we’ve got a good chance of staying in the league and maybe doing something a bit different.”

“We have to get to the points we need to keep us in the division. Once we get to that we’ll re-evaluate where we are but I’m happy with the points we’ve got at the moment.

‘’Once we start getting some more players back I think we’ve got a chance of going on a bit of a run. The games we have just played have been crazy and we’ve been in every game.

“The fans were unbelievable again today. To travel all this way, I’d have felt for them if they’d seen us leave with nothing because they didn’t stop all game.”

Twice the hosts took the lead but twice the visitors fought back to snatch a point. Matt Phillips thrust the hosts into the lead in the first half on a wet surface at the Hawthorns.

But Bonne, who has been a revelation in the last six games, levelled on the hour mark.

The move started down the right channel and a cross to the back post, a header and a fine block from goalkeeper Kyle Bartle saw the ball pop up to Bonne just inside the box to head home.