Final is history, says Jelusic
COACH: LET’S FOCUS ON AMAZULU
Veselin Jelusic wants his Bloemfontein Celtic players to put their Telkom Knockout final defeat behind them as they take on AmaZulu in the Absa Premiership tomorrow evening at the King Zwelithini Stadium.
“We know AmaZulu are strong, so we must try to motivate the players to forget the last game as soon as possible, and focus on the game in the next few days …. I think our players are mature enough to focus on the new task.”
Celtic pushed Bidvest Wits all the way in the TKO final on Saturday at the Princess Magogo Stadium, only to lose 1-0 to a last-minute strike from Vincent Pule.
“I am disappointed with the result, but not with the commitment of my players,” added Jelusic.
“We tried to play the best, the first half was not a game of too much quality but in the second half we improved. We had one or two good chances to score and didn’t, Wits scored in the last minute, congratulations to them.”
Jelusic refused to be over-critical of his players who did miss chances – Victor Letsoala was particularly culpable, wasting a good opportunity just before Pule’s goal.
“I will not talk about the quality of my players, we have tried our best … there were two or three occasions where we didn’t have the characteristics to convert chances but it is part of the game. I think playing in the final will motivate my players to work hard and to continue to get better results on the field.
“In my experience it is no different to score in the first or last minute of a game,” added the Celtic coach, answering a question on whether the manner of this defeat was particularly disappointing.
“In a few games we have scored in the last minutes and won ... this time it was against us.”
Celtic are currently eighth in the Absa Premiership, but they are only three points off the top in an incredibly congested table.