Cape Town - Kaizer Chiefs striker Samir Nurkovic has set his sights on winning the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot Award at the end of his maiden season in the Absa Premiership.
The Serbian, who joined the Amakhosi before the start of the season, has scored eight goals, one less than Highlands Park's Peter Shalulile and two less than joint top-scorers Orlando Pirates' Gabadinho Mhango and AmaZulu's Bongi Ntuli.
The partnership struck between Nurkovic, Khama Billiat and Leonardo Castro means Chiefs have comfortably scored the most goals this season of any side in the league with a tally of 33 to their name.
In fact, it is indicative of Chiefs' improvement that they have scored the same amount of league goals at this stage of the current season (33) than they did in the whole of last season.
Indeed, the Premiership, in general, is becoming high-scoring, which is great for the fans and revenue.
This makes the competition for the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot Award the fiercest it has been in years, something which Nurkovic appreciates, as it spurs him on to score more.
"Okay‚ it’s a very good competition about the goal-scorers," Nurkovic told TimesLive.
"I'm very happy to have somebody to chase. We'll see. I'm going to try my best and score as much as possible.
"But‚ like I said a couple of times before‚ the team comes first. If the team is winning than the individuals will also get something. But as a striker‚ of course, I would like to be a top goal-scorer at the end of the season.”
The 27-year-old missed Chiefs' last game against Highlands Park on Wednesday evening with suspension but will return for their clash with Cape Town City on Sunday.
"I'm looking forward to that game against City and will be hoping to score some goal," said Nurkovic.
"First of all, you have to respect the opponent. We’ll play our game and see. They also have good players‚ so we’ll see."
Amakhosi are in action on Sunday against Cape Town City at 15:30.
- TeamTalk Media