Celtic dominate City at Athlone Stadium
THE CURSE of cup final came back to haunt Cape Town City again as they lost 1-0 to a lively, plucky Bloemfontein Celtic at the Athlone Stadium on Tuesday night.
Last year, after winning the Telkom Knockout Cup, City’s next outing was a 4-0 defeat to Platinum Stars. Last night, after defeat in the MTN8 final at the weekend, the Cape side came unstuck against a determined Celtic.
City tried hard, but the visitors from Bloemfontein were very difficult to break down. Celtic worked hard, they were organised and, in the end, they probably deserved the three points.
As for City, as expected, especially after the energy-sapping defeat to SuperSport United in the MTN8 final at the weekend, coach Benni McCarthy rang the changes to the starting team. In came goalkeeper Sage Stephens, defenders Tshepo Gumede, Edmilson and Vincent Kobola, and midfielders Craig Martin and Ayanda Patosi. There were also starts for Austrian Roland Putsche and Nigerian Victor Obinna, both had come off the bench in the Cup final. All in all, there weren’t all that many scoring opportunities in a tight, cagey encounter.
Celtic were all over City in the opening 15 minutes, with Lucky Baloyi pulling the strings in midfield, and forwards Ndumiso Mabena and Roggert Nyundu causing havoc in the the Cape side’s defence. Nyundu drilled a stinging shot just wide and Mabena was denied a goal by a brilliant, point-blank save from Stephens.
Slowly but surely, City started to settle. They finally grabbed hold of the ball, and were unlucky not to take the lead when Patosi fired in a volley, which Celtic keeper Patrick Tigneymb did well to save.
The Bloemfontein team, though, remained dangerous at the other end, and Stephens again had to come to his team’s rescue to keep out a free-kick from Deon Hotto.
It was Celtic who got the break when Kabelo Mahlasela netted in the 78th minute. City threw everything into the attack, in search of an equaliser, but Celtic stood firm to grab the victory.
A disappointing result for City, especially coming so soon after the cup final loss, but, if there is to be a positive, they can reflect on the continued blossoming of rookie Martin.
Just a few months ago, the winger was playing amateur football, now he’s mixing it with the best in the country. Martin produced another promising performance last night, with his blinding speed creating huge problems for the Celtic defence. In addition, his appetite for work, both in attack and defence, was exemplary, and he will certainly be an ace up the sleeve for McCarthy as the season progresses. PRETORIA: The venue clad with mostly the yellow and black of a struggling Kaizer Chiefs, the players delivered a big performance when one was desperately needed and expected yesterday.
But coach Steve Komphela’s starting line-up, with several key players out injured, was far from convincing. Siyabonga Ngezana was thrown in at the deep end and handed a first start in Amakhosi colours alongside Daniel Cardoso and Eric Mathoho in a threeman central defence.
Ngezana was under pressure, especially in the opening