Former Kaizer Chiefs fans' enemy number one Virgil Vries has chalked up his upturn in form at the GladAfrica Championship high-flyers Moroka Swallows to his horrendous spell with Amakhosi.

After his error-ridden stint with Chiefs between July 2018 and March 2019, Vries has re-established himself as one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the second tier.

The Namibian shot-stopper boasts eight clean sheets in as many games for the Dube Birds this season. Vries's heroics have inspired Swallows to second spot on the log with 40 points, five behind leaders Ajax Cape Town. The weekend's 3-1 away win to strugglers Royal Eagles saw them surge to number two.

"I cannot call myself a hero, but my confidence is back. What happened [referring to the howlers he made] at Chiefs toughened me up. it improved my character as a person. I can attribute my current form to all my past mistakes because I took everything as a learning curve," Vries told Sowetan yesterday.

"It was an unfortunate situation at Chiefs because I was given the chance and I am grateful for that. But sometimes God has his own ways, as today I am here at Swallows. Maybe it was his plan that I would end up here, enjoying my football again."

Despite being second on the log, Vries is coy on Swallows' promotion aspirations.

"For us, the most important thing is our next game [which is away to Pretoria University on Sunday].

"We are not worrying about what's happening around us or what's happening on the log," he said.

"People like this thing of focusing on what could happen in the future and forget to deal with the task at hand during that present moment.

"Why must we look at the promotion while we have not finished our games? That's not our approach. we do not go about our business like that," added Vries.

GladAfrica results: 

Cosmos 0, Ajax 1; Galaxy 1, Sporting 0; Eagles 1, Swallows 3; FS Stars 1, Kings 1; Uthongathi 1, AmaTuks 1; Mbombela 2, JDR 1; Steenberg 1, Richards Bay 1; Umoya 0, Tshakhuma 2