KAIZER Chiefs’ recent resurgence seems to have coincided with the return of their star striker Samir Nurkovic.
The Serbian missed the start of the season after he underwent an operation to a groin injury he sustained at the end of last season.
He was out for four months nursing his way back to fitness as his beloved Amakhosi struggled.
Gavin Hunt’s charges were knocked out of the MTN 8 and found themselves languishing in the bottom half of the DStv Premiership log table.
This was tough to take for Nurkovic who was itching to get off the treatment table and get back on the field to help his teammates.
He finally made his long-awaited return from injury against Primeiro de Agosto in the Caf Champions League earlier this month.
He was back on the scoresheet on his first start of the season against AmaZulu last week, helping Chiefs to get what was only their second league win.
And last time out, he provided an assist as Amakhosi beat Cape Town City 2-1 to move into the top eight.
“It felt fantastic to be back on the field after a long time, after surgery and four months of recovery and training sessions,” said Nurkovic.
“I’m happy to be finally back to try and help the guys. It was really difficult for me to see my team struggling.
“Every day you can see the supporters were not happy and they were wishing me speedy recovery but I needed a lot of time to recover fully. You can’t rush the process.
“The big difference has been the absence of the supporters because they have always been our 12th man on the field and it is harder without them.”
Nurkovic, whose presence seems to have inspired Amakhosi to return to form, is hoping to make a bigger impact in the upcoming matches.
He will be hungry for goals when Chiefs welcome Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) at FNB Stadium this afternoon.
“It’s my job is to be upfront and score goals,” added the 28-year-old Serbian.
“The team has been working hard in the last two games that we have won, we are not giving up. We have to use this momentum to go forward but take it one game at a time. We have to give our best in each game to achieve what we want.
“We really don’t have a lot of time to think about the opponent, we have to focus on ourselves and our game. We have to bring the good fighting spirit that we have brought in the last two games.”
