Former Kaizer Chiefs striker Kingston Nkhatha had words of encouragement for Lebohang Maboe, who has endured boos from his own Mamelodi Sundowns fans.

Maboe enjoyed a reasonably successful 2018/19 season, scoring eight goals in 27 league games, but has come under fire this campaign for netting only once in 17 Absa Premiership outings.

Nkhatha believes Maboe needs to rise above the criticism, but also added that the Masandawana coaches must give him more support.

"For Lebo, he needs to be strong. Such things mustn't break him. He must always know that he is there to play... to enjoy himself," Nkhatha told the Sowetan.

"The coaches need to show more support, that will help his confidence. He must always remember how he joined Sundowns... it was because of his brilliance at Maritzburg, so he must get motivation from that as well."

Nkhatha spoke out of personal experience as he also suffered at the hands of merciless Chiefs fans during his time playing under head coach Stuart Baxter.

"It was difficult at first, but with the help of the players and the technical team, especially coach Stuart, I healed," he added.

"He [Baxter] would always talk to me to check up if I was okay, but it was a difficult period that you end up not wanting to play football again, but having personal goals and wanting to help the team achieve more saw me block all the negativity at the end of it all."

- TEAMtalk media