Zwane happy for ‘alive again’ Ngcobo after superb display for Chiefs

Nkosingiphile Ngcobo was touted as one of the bright sparks at Kaizer Chiefs last season, with his good showings giving supporters hope that he would grow to be a big player at the club.

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But that was all last season and this season, under Stuart Baxter’s guidance Ngcobo has failed to make the team on a regular basis, limited to cameo appearances.

The 22-year-old, however, proved that he still packs the punch with a stunning display in Amakhosi’s 2-0 DStv Premiership win over Sekhukhune United on Sunday.

Ngcobo and a couple of other youngsters who are not regulars under Baxter were given rare stars as Chiefs struggled to have a full strength team owing to a Covid-19 outbreak at Naturena that rendered many of their players unavailable, as they are in isolation.

The diminutive midfield, who scored a brilliant goal, was named Man-of-the-Match and his coach on the day, Arthur Zwane was happy for the lad, saying he was ‘alive again’.

“You know sometimes in football, especially when you come from a season that was tough for us, playing in the Champions League, playing in the domestic league and in cup games… Him, Njabulo (Blom) and many other youngsters played a lot of games and you could see that they were dropping a little because of fatigue,” was Zwane’s economical answer when asked whether he trusted him more than Baxter does.

“We had to manage him and you can see now that he is coming back, he is alive again and we are happy to see him, especially in this game showcasing his talent and performing like he did.”

Mangethe (his clan name), as Zwane is referred to, was happy about how the team turned up for the game despite having had limited preparation time for the game.

“We had a very complex fortnight and we had to wait for the players to come to training in dribs and drabs. The performance this evening was quite amazing, we did not expect it for the fact that we didn’t prepare the way we would have loved and how we always do.

“But everything happens for a reason and we thank God for giving the boys the strength, considering where we come from. We did well in the first half and we managed the game.

“In the second half we couldn’t keep the ball as much as we would have loved to simply because the legs were getting tired. We had to force the players to launch long balls into spaces and create one-on-one situations and create scoring chances.

“It worked well because we managed to get the second goal (scored by Phathushedzo Nange) from such a moment.”