Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt has praised the return of Samir Nurkovic following his side’s ‘big win’ over AmaZulu on Wednesday.

The Glamour Boys picked up just their second win of the season by beating Usuhtu 1-0 at Kings Park Stadium, which lifted them from14th position to 10th on the league table, having accumulated 10 points from their opening 10 games thus far.

Chiefs have had their issues up front this season, but the returning Nurkovic made the difference for Hunt’s team, with the coach admitting that their defensive issues have also held them back.

‘Right now for us, any win is a big win. We should have won a few more games but the table doesn’t lie, and we’ve been poor defensively,’ Hunt told the club’s media after the match.

‘But, as I said from the start, if you get a guy like Samir playing in your team every week … it’s like what happened last year, he played all those first 10 games and he was brilliant, and scored all your goals and then you’ve got half a chance. We haven’t had that.

‘We worked on a shape before we came here yesterday [Tuesday] to try a nullify them a little bit, [because] they’ve got some good players – they’ve invested in their team heavily up front.

‘I knew their wide players are dangerous and, after the first half, they got in behind us once or twice maybe, but we had some really good chances.

‘I thought Samir, who hasn’t played for 90 minutes [in months], was fantastic. I didn’t want to play him but we’ve only got one striker available, so it’s a problem.’