His time as Kaizer Chiefs's interim coach may be remembered as one of the worst, but Cavin Johnson takes pride in giving opportunities to youngsters such as Wandile Duba and Mfundo Vilakazi.
Amakhosi had another disappointing campaign last season, as they slumped to their worst ever finish in the PSL era. They finished 10th with Johnson as interim coach, but there were a few positives to take.
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The former Platinum Stars coach gave Mfundo Vilakazi and Donnay Jansen their debuts in the first team, while Duba got to feature eight times under his tutelage. Duba scored his first goal for the club against Golden Arrows, a delightful finish which gave the opposition goalkeeper no chance on the day.
Johnson is hoping Amakhosi's new technical team, led by Nasreddine Nabi, will give the young players an opportunity to play in the first team in the coming season.
"Vilakazi, Duba, Donnay...those are the young ones. Duba showed a lot of quality within the training sessions. We were working with him and he showed a lot of improvement and then we put him in and he scored the goal. What a time to come on and do that, you know what I am saying?" he said to the Siya crew.
"With Vilakazi, it was a little bit different. We had to use him at times when we never had anything else and, in all respect to him, you can see that he has got the capabilities. I just hope that the people who have come along will give them an opportunity to show their talent within the team."
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Johnson was expected to return to his role as head of academy at Naturena when his stint as interim coach ended, but Amakhosi announced his departure recently.
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