Johnson upbeat after good start

CAVIN Johnson is confident he can keep the wolves away from Platinum Stars ’ door and secure the North West club a place in next season ’ s Absa Premiership.

“Based on our performance against Ajax Cape Town [on Saturday] you can see this is a side that is prepared to grind out results against a lot of clubs,” he said after his first match back with the club in which Robert Ng ’ ambi scored the late winner in a 2-1 win over the Urban Warriors at the weekend.

Johnson had only four days to prepare after being appointed last week to take over from Allan Freese.

The win over Ajax has pushed Stars from 13th to 11th in the standings, although they face difficult matches in their remaining six fixtures.

They start tomorrow night with an away league game at Orlando Pirates, which will be followed by two games against high flying Mamelodi Sundowns.

“It ’ s always a good game against Pirates. Always a pleasure. Always a very tactical game,” said Johnson.

“You ’ ve got to know you are going to be up against it at Orlando (Stadium). They are runners. You ’ ve got to be extra clever to play against runners.”

Ahead of the match, he said he would be concentrating on rest and recovery.

“I want to look as much as I can at the players and their work, but I also want to give the players as much recovery as I can.

“For me, it ’ s always about the recovery and one or two changes,” added Johnson. PSL FIXTURES Tomorrow: Orlando Pirates v Platinum Stars (Orlando Stadium, 7.30pm); Black Aces v Mamelodi Sundowns (Mbombela Stadium, 7.30pm)

Thursday: Kaizer Chiefs v AmaZulu (Peter Mokaba Stadium, 7pm)