PREVIEW: Chiefs boss Cavin Johnson says every game now is a Cup final for Amakhosi

Despite displaying a glimpse of hope towards the end of last year under the tutelage of interim coach Cavin Johnson, Chiefs have been shockingly poor in the new year.

Before the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) break, the Soweto giants, who host Golden Arrows in a DStv Premiership match on Tuesday (7.30pm), had registered three victories on the trot and a draw.

However, things took a different turn for Johnson and his men as they struggled to build on that momentum after the extended mid-season break.

Amakhosi have not just failed to win a match in three outings this year, but they were also knocked out of the Nedbank Cup last 32 by the Motsepe Foundation Championship stragglers, Milford FC.

The 5-4 penalty shootouts loss to Milford meant the Glamour Boys’ trophy drought has been extended to an unprecedented nine years.    

Speaking to the media after another disappointing result where they drew 0-0 with Moroka Swallows at the weekend, Johnson emphasised the need to treat all their remaining 12 league matches as Cup finals.

“Our target is the one that we’ve always had since the beginning of the time when I took over, it’s to win as many games and get as high as possible in the PSL,” Johnson said.

“Since we’ve let ourselves down in the Nedbank, we’ve got to make sure that every game now is a Cup final because we know every team we play against, plays against Chiefs as if it was a Cup final.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us and we must make sure we stay on top of our game as long as we can.”

Chiefs’ main problem since the resumption of domestic football last month has been their bluntness upfront.

The Naturena-based outfit failed to score a goal despite creating numerous opportunities over the past three games, but for Johnson all is not lost.

“We haven’t lost a game in the last six (we have played),” Johnson said.

“We can take a little bit of arrogance in that, but we need the points. The bottom line is we need the points, a draw today (against Swallows) is two points lost.”

The 10-th placed Arrows have failed to win a match since they beat Chiefs 2-1 at Mpumalanga Stadium in Hammarsdale on October 28.

Since then, the Mabhuti Khenyeza-coached side have suffered eight league matches defeats and two Cup games losses.

However, they collected maximum points for their cancelled fixtures against Swallows in December.

Johnson appears to still have a gripe about how they lost the game against Abafana Bes’thende.

“The last time we played them in Durban, the rain was mad and the field they took us to was… I don’t know where that place was, we had to drive one and a half hours, but it’s fine. It’s football,” Johnson said.

“The quicker people make those trips permanent, the better you can prepare but every year it’s a different thing. That is also not good for football.

“We know they are coming to FNB Stadium on Tuesday.

“We need to make sure that we come on to the field and play better than we did today (against Swallows).”