Cavin Johnson says being an interim coach at Kaizer Chiefs doesn't make his job any easier. 

Johnson is completing a difficult week since being appointed caretaker coach at Chiefs in October with the club having bombed out of the Nedbank Cup against Motsepe Foundation Championship outfit Milford FC on Sunday.

Sixth-placed Chiefs have a chance to redeem themselves in their next DStv Premiership match when they host Moroka Swallows at FNB Stadium on Saturday (5.45pm).

With Mamelodi Sundowns looking a shoo-in to win the league title for the seventh successive season, the pressure is reaching fever pitch for Johnson after his failure in the Nedbank Cup.

Johnson was asked if the pressure of being head coach at Chiefs is less given he is not the permanently-appointed coach.

“There's no difference,” he said. “You don't do this job as an interim coach. Not at Kaizer Chiefs.

“And if you're going to work with a mentality [of an interim coach] then you don't do it all. It's like piloting an aeroplane and you want to fly it halfway. No, it's not going to work.”

Johnson said he is yet to properly digest what happened on Sunday when Chiefs lost on penalties to Milford.

“I have to think about that. I haven't yet had time to digest being one of the coaches who's not won a trophy at Kaizer Chiefs.

“But it will probably sink in in the next two weeks when the next Nedbank Cup [last 16 matches] are played.

“When I look at [those games] and realise we're not there, then it will hit us all. But now my concentration is on the next game against Moroka Swallows.”

Chiefs have not scored a goal in their first two competitive matches in 2024 and striker Ashley du Preez has come under fire for missing some of the glaring chances in the 0-0 league draw against Royal AM and against Milford. 

“After the game it's easy to talk,” said Johnson of Du Preez's misses. “We try to show the players afterwards what the mistake was, if there [was] a mistake.

“But more importantly, I say when a player doesn't do [the right thing] the only way you can try to do it is in the next training session.

“You get them to kick more and more and score more and sometimes score with no goalkeepers, sometimes with three goalkeepers. So you try to play around with a lot of those types of things in your training sessions.

“We're doing that and hopefully it breaks the mentality.”