Hunt explains his plans for Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Ngcobo

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Gavin Hunt wants Nkosingiphile Ngcobo to play further forward in order to combine more with Samir Nurkovic.

The 21-year-old Ngcobo has been at the centre of Amakhosi's resurgence which has seen them winning their last three matches and he has scored twice in the last two games, against Cape Town City and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila.

The goal against TTM was a sublime effort from Ngcobo, with Nurkovic having played his part by initially drawing defenders away from his teammate and then supplying him with the ball.

Hunt is eager for the diminutive Ngcobo to combine more often with the burly Serbian, although as he explains, there are challenges to doing that.

“I think any good player can play with anybody. They can play with each other, so the idea is we want to try and play into Samir, but I mean we can’t all the time,” Hunt was quoted as saying by IOL.

“If I can get [Ngcobo] higher up on the field, which we can’t do at the moment because of other situations.

“We need to go get the boy (in better positions) because I think he has three or four goals this season. But we need to get him into those positions more often because he's got the ability.

“But at the moment we are trying to work on his defensive side of the game. It's something that he's going to learn in each game. But we hope that combination can continue to blossom a little better going forward in the season.”

Ngcobo isn't the only Amakhosi youngster shining at the moment - Njabulo Blom and Darrel Matsheke have been playing well in the engine room while left-wing Happy Mashiane has two goals and an assist from his last two appearances.

In some respects, Chiefs' transfer ban and a lengthy injury list have forced Hunt to give more opportunities to the less experienced members of his squad.

And having been trounced 5-0 on aggregate by Orlando Pirates over the two-legged MTN8 semi-finals at the start of the season, Hunt will be pleased to see how his young players have progressed since then.

“We need to get the balance (between the seniors and youngsters) right, because I know in the derby I had too many of them (youngsters) playing. But we had to test them somewhere. We have to be careful. But in our situation, they have to play and learn very fast,” Hunt said, before also praising Mashiane.

“I've liked Happy from the first time I saw him. He's my type of player and a very good crosser of the ball. So, we need to work on that a little more."