The familiar maroon and white of Swallows FC are colours and a Club that brings back warm, fond memories for Njabulo Ngcobo.

The towering 27-year-old defender hails from Mthwalume in KwaZulu-Natal and was an AmaZulu youth product, but it is during a brilliant 2020/2021 season with Swallows that Ngcobo really made his massive mark on South African topflight professional football.

Ngcobo was outstanding in his 28 games for Swallows, being named the Premier Soccer League defender of the season.

It was the kind of sterling form that saw Kaizer Chiefs swoop for him at the start of the 2021/22 season.

He’s been used with mixed success in both a holding midfield and defensive role this season at Chiefs and has also had his share of injuries that have blighted his progress at the Club.

But he will fancy his return to coach Arthur Zwane’s reckoning for Amakhosi’s final home game of the season on Saturday, against a Swallows side that this season is desperately flailing against relegation and are in desperate need of three points of their own to stave off the dreaded drop.

“Swallows have been good for me, they’ve done everything they could for me to enjoy being in the topflight,” Ngcobo said with respect and fondness this week, before adding tough that unfortunately there is no room for sentiment in topflight football.

“It’s a tough game. They want three points, but we also want to keep the momentum we’ve been generating. We want to win games. It’s going to be a good game, even though it won’t be easy for us,” Ngcobo added in conversation with www.kaizerchiefs.com.

For Swallows, it’s a desperate relegation battle, but for Chiefs there is still the outside chance of a spot in the CAF Champions League and a more realistic chance of CAF Confederation Cup football to fight for with three points this weekend at the FNB Stadium

“I won’t focus on other teams, but for us so far so good, we have done everything right this week. We need three points again, so that when we come back next season, we can have a good start because if you finish well you feel the same way entering another season. I just hope we get maximum points and play good football as we have been doing. Other teams have their plans, but we need to focus on ours. If we can win this game, there might be a chance for us to play in CAF competition, so I hope so,” concluded Ngcobo.

Tickets for the Soweto Derby match between Amakhosi and the Birds are available at www.ticketmaster.co.za and Computicket outlets at Shoprite/Checkers at R70 per ticket.

The match kicks off at 15:00 but supporters are urged to arrive early as there will be lots of exciting giveaways at FNB stadium.