Nasreddine Nabi hails impressive return of Edmilson Dove

Dove featured for the first time this season when Chiefs narrowly lost 1-0 to Sundowns at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday. 

Chiefs had struggled in the left-back position since the recent departure of Thatoyaone Ditlhokwe to Libya, but Dove limited the The Brazilians’ entries on his side of the park.

"I have to congratulate Dove because it's not easy to get into this kind of game and play 90 minutes with the intensity that the game had, after seven months of injury," said Nabi through assistant coach and translator Cedric Kaze.

"It requires a lot of mental strength and a player with big character, defensively he gave us very good balance and offensively you cannot ask everything of him in one day, but he managed to finish the 90 minutes.

"He's also a player who, even though he hasn't played a lot, since December has been training consistently with his teammates and saw that today it paid off."

Chiefs lost lead striker Tashreeq Morris midway through the first half due to a hamstring injury, and Nabi says his qualities make his a big loss in their attack.

"It hurts us a lot, he's a striker that can give you a lot of things – he's a good presser, he doesn't give a lot of rest to the [opposition] defenders," he added.

"He's also a classic nine that can give you, when you need, an option to play off, he holds the ball up and he gives the team time to go up and take positions in attack, and he's also a player who, when you've got crosses into the box, can finish and has a big presence."

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