Stars recall Cavin

01 April 2015 - 02:56 By Mazola Molefe

Not only will Cavin Johnson be fighting to save Platinum Stars from relegation after he replaced Allan Freese as coach yesterday, but the former academy mentor will also be in the race to retain the hot seat at the end of the season. Johnson has eight matches to prove his worth. On the club's decision to bring back Johnson, who led them to a second-place finish before his departure, Dikwena football manager Senzo Mazingisa said: "If you look at the available coaches, Cavin has not been attached to any club for eight months [he was fired by Supersport United in August]. Others, like Ruud Krol, would have had issues with their work permit."The best option for us was Cavin because of what he has done for the club in the past and how quickly he would fit in, but we will review the contract after the eight games."The axe finally fell on Freese on Monday night following an internal process into his performance as head coach. He was put on "special leave" almost two weeks ago due to the club's string of poor results.Willem Jackson, his assistant, took charge of the Nedbank Cup match against Mamelodi Sundowns at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium that weekend.Mazingisa said Freese, who still had three years to run on his contract, would be compensated. Jackson will stay on as Johnson's assistant.The new coach brushed off suggestions that he left Dikwena under a dark cloud in June 2013."We didn't burn bridges when I left even though a lot of people assumed that was the case. The last couple of days have been hectic for me and I am grateful to this club for giving me the job again," Johnson said.Johnson said yesterday he felt for his former assistant Freese, but his immediate focus was to rescue Dikwena from the relegation scrap. The Phokeng-based outfit are in 13th place, with only eight Premier League matches remaining."I hope Allan gets another job as soon as possible," the coach said."We are all colleagues and we know how tough it can be, but we must move on because there's a job at hand."We have eight cup finals and it feels like it's a train coming right at you. When I first took over this club we were in ninth position and missed out on the Top 8. We have the facilities and we need to do the best that we can to deliver the results in these cup finals."..

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