Kaizer Chiefs interim coach Cavin Johnson admits Ashley du Preez’ injury could be serious, while addressing the progress of Happy Mashiane under his leadership.
Du Preez was hauled off after half an hour in the 0-0 draw with Polokwane City due to injury and replaced with Mashiane, who failed to make an appearance for the club prior to Johnson’s arrival.
Since then, he’s featured in seven games at left-back and as an inverted winger, which is the role Johnson set out for his system.
“Ash got a knock, and in all respect to him, he couldn’t run anymore, he thought it was an ankle [injury] but it was a knock just above the toe,” Johnson confirmed.
“It could be a lot worse than we think but we need to make sure. the medical team and Ashley told us he can’t go on anymore.”
“We brought on Happy, who has been in the team for the last 15 games, so he knows what we need in that position and I thought he could have done better, especially knowing how we want to work in that number 11 space,” he continued.
“He made one or two crosses [but] we weren’t able to get on the end of. If he had done more, maybe we’d have better chances because then Saile or Ranga would have gotten to [what he can create], but it never happened.
“But he’s not played for a while, he came onto the pitch and did one or two things we want him to do – he lost the ball a couple of times but we didn’t concede a goal, so we need to work on that finer details over why he loses the ball, otherwise, he’s okay.”
Chiefs take on relegated Cape Town Spurs on the final day of the season on Saturday with the intention to secure the final MTN8 spot for the 2024/25 season.
