Celtic to settle score against Chiefs

Bloemfontein Celtic skipper, Thabo Nthethe, is quite confident that he and his teammates can conquer Kaizer Chiefs to advance to the next stage of the Nedbank Cup when the two teams meet in the quarterfinals of the competition at the Free State Stadium tomorrow evening.

It is the second time the two teams meet in just over two weeks, with Chiefs having walked away with maximum league points after inflicting a 3-0 beating on Celtic on its own turf. Despite the loss, Nthethe told The Weekly that the club’s coach, Clinton Larsen, was satisfied with how the team performed in the first match.

“The coach was happy with our performance against Chiefs (two weeks) and I personally also think we played well as a team. We competed well in every department although we lost that game by three goals.

“What is important, however, is that we showed courage and the desire to fight for the team and I think we won’t change our approach much because the coach was happy with our performance against Chiefs.”

 

Nthethe said the team’s morale is still intact and that the players are determined to have a go at the visiting Gauteng giants. He told The Weekly that Celtic will approach the tomorrow’s game differently and is quite confident that the team’s strategy will see them through.

“We are still in good spirits, but now we are working on the finishing in front of goals. In our match against Chiefs we dominated the game but did not score. Even against the University of Pretoria, we could have won that game; against Maritzburg, we dominated the entire 90 minutes but still drew. I think our final touches are the ones that are letting us down.

“Each and every player here is willing to fight for the team and their its jersey to make sure that the team goes forward,” added Nthethe.

Celtic will be without the services of their leading goal poacher, Lerato Manzini, who sustained an injury against Maritzburg United last weekend.
“Lerato is out and will not be available for this game. It is a blow for us to lose such a player because he is our leading goal scorer.

We were wishing that everyone would be available, but I believe we will be able to cover up in his place,” said Nthethe.

He further assured the throngs of Siwelele fans across the province that they can expect a totally different game from the league loss to Kaizer Chiefs in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) two weeks ago.

“The way we are going to approach this game, we can win the Nedbank Cup. We want to be part of the history and among the teams that have won two trophies in one season. We want to make sure that the supporters are happy, along with the management and the players; we want to make history.”

The Amakhosi are also currently without the services of some of their stalwarts, including defence pivot Morgan Gould who is out with a ligament injury and Reneilwe Letsholonyane who was red-cared for a reckless tackle in Chiefs’ stalemate against Golden Arrows last weekend.

Regardless of the situation, Baxter said his team will soldier on and utilise the player that are still at his disposal. He recently told the media that the team has survived a similar situation before and are now obliged to make do without his services again.

“He is probably out for the rest of the season and playing without him will be the most difficult test for us this season.

“But we’ve done it before when he was injured. We can’t say we’ll pick up when these players return because we’re at the business end of the season,” added Baxter.

The high flying Amakhosi have indeed shown immense depth throughout the season and their current good run can never be attributed to one single individual. Chiefs has seen a substantial number of its players get onto the score sheet, with their serial goal poacher, Bernard Parker, still in the running for the golden boot award at the end of the season.

The Amakhosi recently claimed the third quarter of the PSL Q-innovation, while the club’s coach, Stuart Baxter, and goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune, grabbed the individual coach and player of Q3 accolades.

Celtic on the other hand already clinched silverware this season, with the 2012 Telkom Knockout trophy already in their cabinet. Despite Chiefs reputation of being the proclaimed domestic “Cup kings”, Celtic has shown that it also falls within the spectrum of silverware contenders this season and may upset Chiefs in this regard.

The match will kick off at 20:15 and the match is expected to attract a full capacity crowd.

The fan behaviour factor:

The match is definitely going to be a highly emotional affair. Both Bloemfontein Celtic and Chiefs have a strong following and the battle action will not only be limited to the field of play.

The stadium will undoubtedly be filled to capacity when the two teams take each other on tomorrow and the supporter’s will definitely play an influential part in how the match unfolds.

Celtic’s core support base is in Bloemfontein and is distinctively characterised by strong passion-driven eruptions of well-coordinated supporters’ renditions. This has served as a motivating factor to the club’s players during matches.

The Siwelele fans have also been recognised as the most vibrant club supporter’s in the country on numerous occasions.

The Amakhosi, on the other hand, boast large numbers. The Gauteng outfit has supporters in every corner of the country; giving birth to the cliché: “Every game is a home game for Chiefs”.
However, in the fixture against Arrows last week, two Chiefs fans embarrassed the Gauteng outfit when they stormed the field of play and attacked the referee.

This surging trend seems to have grappled the football fraternity in recent PSL matches with Orlando Pirates coach, Roger de Sa having been pelted with object’s by his team’s infuriated fans.

Celtic captain, Nthethe said he does not fear that such incidences may occur at the quarterfinal match tomorrow.

“Our fans know how to support their team. We don’t need such (unruly) supporters as a country because that is not the correct way to support.

“I know our supporter will be there for us and after the game they will be very happy,” added Nthethe.”