Johnson on ten-man Chiefs – we had better chances

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Cavin Johnson praised the work put in by ten-man Amakhosi after they were held to a 2-2 DStv Premiership draw by TS Galaxy on Tuesday.

It was the second game in a row in which Chiefs have received a first half red card to a central defender, with Given Msimango sent off in the 5-1 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns.

On Tuesday it was Mozambican defender Edmilson Dove who was given his marching orders for the second time this year, having also been sent off against Moroka Swallows in early March.

“When you get a red card again, you scratch your head and ask yourself ‘what happened?’ Johnson told SuperSport TV.

“I thought we played better with ten men this week than last but this was a different team (we were playing).

“I thought we had better chances than they (Galaxy) had when we had ten men and they had 11,” he added.

“The players worked hard and stayed compact, but when we did go on the break, Ranga (Chivaviro) had a very good opporunity to make it 3-2.”

It was Chivaviro who gave Chiefs the lead, before Sphiwe Mahlangu equalised with a penalty for Galaxy, after Dove was booked for a handball inside the penalty area.

Dove was then sent off on the stroke of half time for a poor tackle, but Chivaviro put Chiefs back in front five minutes after the break, drilling home a free kick.

Mahlangu at the double

Galaxy eventually found another equaliser in the 76^th minute, Mahlangu completing his brace with a fine header.

“They missed two big chances in the first six minutes,” added Johnson.

“But we came out of it, then we got a goal (for Chivaviro) when we pressed them and won the ball. They came back and got a pen, we made it 2-1 and I thought we had a lot of chances but we didn’t defend a corner correctly and it was 2-2.”

Chiefs’ next game in their bid to qualify for next season ‘s MTN8 comes on Sunday, when they take on AmaZulu at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.