- Kaizer Chiefs targeting eighth successive league win against determined Bloemfontein Celtic tomorrow (Sat).
Kaizer Chiefs player Mulomowandau Mathoho is available for selection tomorrow evening when his team faces his former club Bloemfontein Celtic in a league game in Durban.
Mathoho was sent off after a quarrel between players in Chiefs’ 3-2 win over Orlando Pirates in an Absa Premiership game on November 9 at FNB Stadium.
He subsequently missed Chiefs’ Telkom Knockout semifinal match against Maritzburg United and their 4-0 league triumph over Stellenbosch.
Having sat out those games, he is now eager to take to the field when Chiefs take on Bloemfontein Celtic tomorrow.
Mathoho spent three seasons at Celtic between 2009/10 and 2011/12 before he left to join Amakhosi ahead of the 2012/13 season. He made his Absa Premiership debut for Celtic as a 19- year-old in February 2010 against Mamelodi Sundowns.
While he has fond memories of his time at the Free State club, Mathoho is now focused on helping Chiefs collect more points.
He says: “It’s nice to play against Celtic. Every time I play against them, I enjoy it and it brings back memories and shows me how far I have come. I started there and now I am at Chiefs, the biggest team in the country.”
The gifted player now has only one aim when he comes up against Celtic. “When I started out there I was still young and did my job. I have now moved on to the next level in my career. When I am on the field all that is to one side, I am now only focused on helping my current club, which is Chiefs, to win.”
Mathoho feels he has competition on his hands for a starting berth given the performance of Siyabonga Ngezana in Chiefs’ last league encounter against Stellenbosch on November 27. Ngezana opened the scoring for Chiefs in that match.
“I felt Siyabonga Ngezana had a really good game against Stellenbosh. Now it’s the coach’s decision as to who will start. I was very impressed by him and the way he played scoring a goal and his overall performance. I must compliment him as a young player, he did very well,” says Mathoho.
With Chiefs targeting an eighth successive league win, he has warned that it will be a tough assignment against a Celtic team that’s undefeated in their last five league games.
“It’s not going to be easy. They are a good team with good players, but every game is tough, and we have to focus and put all our efforts into winning the game. We have two matches left for the year and if we can win them, the festive break will be a happy one for us. It is going to take a lot of hard work for us to win the points, we ready for the challenge,” he notes.
Should he feature against Phunya Sele Sele, Mathoho as a Chiefs player will be facing his former club in an Absa Premiership game for the 11th time. He has scored once in his previous 10 league games against them.
The game takes place at the Moses Mabhida Stadium at 20:15. Tickets are available at Computicket from R60.
