Samir Nurkovic of Kaizer Chiefs. Pic: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix)
It is generally believed that the anxiety to score your first goal as a striker at a new team makes it a little harder for an attacker to break their duck.
But Kaizer Chiefs’ Samir Nurkovic got that monkey off his back when he scored with a spectacular effort against SuperSport United on Saturday evening – in only his third game in the Amakhosi colours.
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“It was very important for me to have scored against SuperSport. Every striker who comes to a new team knows the value and importance of scoring their first goal. You need to get it as soon as possible to be ready for the next games. I am happy to have gotten my first goal and I now look at what is ahead of us,” he told the club’s website on Monday.
He also explained how he scored his first goal which was a spectacular effort: “I did not see any other solution and I just looked to see where the goalkeeper was and I tried to lob the goalkeeper and everything worked out. I also thought that if the ball goes past the goalkeeper someone might be lurking behind him who could have touched the ball over the line, in the end I was happy with the outcome. It is always nice to score.”
Nurkovic was a constant thorn in the Matsatsantsa side and even their coach Kaitano tembo admitted that they found it hard to deal with his bursting runs.
“We had a problem dealing with Nurkovic. He is a very good striker and it was the first time our defence played against someone like that. He can hold the ball. He’s technically good as well and he’s also got a football brain. He makes the right decisions and he gave us a lot of problems. I think he could have grabbed a hat-trick,” said Tembo after the match.
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