Keagan Dolly reflects on bouncing back from five-month injury ordeal

Dolly had to undergo surgery in April and his return now has coincided with his former youth mentor Cavin Johnson taking over from reins at Naturena. 

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The 30-year-old has missed out on a lot of football, including a place in the Bafana Bafana squad. 

"It was a difficult five months – just seeing the boys play, especially in the first few games of the season, when we were doing so well, you want to be a part of that," said Dolly.

"You want to play, as a player, but I think with my experience, having previous injuries when I was in France as well, I had quite a bit of injuries.

"I think this time was different because I knew how to deal with it mentally, and I had my family and my kids that kept me busy and in good spirits.

"I also had my teammates and the technical staff, and the physios at Kaizer Chiefs motivating me and always telling me that things will come right."

The former Mamelodi Sundowns winger insists he never obsessed about things out of his control while working his way back to full fitness, with Cavin Johnson having stepped in to replace Ntseki on an interim basis.

"It was a set-back [missing out on national team selection], but it's part of football, it comes with the game. For me, it was just trying to stay positive and work myself back into the team [Chiefs] and get back to normal fitness, and then see where it goes," he added.

"I know Coach Cavin, I think, since I was eight years old, but it was never a personal relationship, I knew him as a coach, so it was a football relationship – it's very professional, we both have a job to do, and that's that."

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