Posted in News, Team News on Apr 07, 2024.
Head coach, Cavin Johnson bemoaned Amakhosi’s lack of precision at both ends of the pitch in their 2-0 DStv Premiership defeat to Chippa United in East London on Saturday.
Johnson believes they created enough chances early on to have established an unassailable position before conceding two goals he thinks they ought to have prevented.
“We should have sealed the game in the first 20 minutes. We had three, four, five good opportunities. We were able to put them on the back foot, and then we conceded two very soft goals.
“Having said that, we came back in the second half, chasing the game at 2-0 down, which is very difficult, but we spent about 80 per cent of the time in their half. However, we weren’t clinical enough in converting our chances goals,” he says.
Aside from that, he is otherwise satisfied with the team’s overall performance on the day, explaining, “We lost the game but, at the same time, I cannot say I am unhappy with the team’s performance. Apart from giving away two silly goals, I felt the players put in a good shift.”
The coach further emphasises the uniquely disruptive and melancholy circumstances in which they prepared for the match, following the apparently senseless murder of squad member, Luke Fleurs, last Wednesday, pointing out, “It cannot be ignored that we have had a terrible week, having lost one of our players, yet the team was willing to play, and they deserve a lot of credit for that, after what they have been through during the week.”
The Glamour Boys face a challenge to hold onto their Top 8 spot in the league and will need to regroup and plot a way forward before their next league encounter, a trip to KwaZulu Natal to face Richards Bay on 20 April, and Johnson is under no illusions as to where the responsibility lies to get Amakhosi back to winning ways.
“We have got to take ourselves out of this position,” he states, “Nobody else can do it for us.”