Title-chasing Cape Town City wary of a struggling Celtic

CAPE TOWN – Cape Town City are determined to bounce back from their Nedbank Cup embarrassment when they take on struggling Bloemfontein Celtic in a PSL fixture at the Dr Molemela Stadium on Saturday evening (kickoff 6pm).

Having surprising lost to Second Division side Acornbush United in the cup competition last week, City coach Eric Tinkler is demanding an immediate response from his players on Saturday. The importance of the encounter against Celtic cannot be under-estimated, especially with regard to the Cape team’s title challenge. If they wish to keep the pressure on the other championship contenders, then victory is paramount.

As it currently stands, second-placed City are level on 38 points with log leaders Wits, with SuperSport United on 37 points, Kaizer Chiefs 35 and defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns on 34.

Going into Saturday night’s fixture, City goalkeeper Shu-aib Walters is hoping for a positive performance and a clean sheet before he joins the Bafana Bafana squad for the upcoming friendlies against Guinea-Bissau and Angola.

The experienced 35-year-old Walters has been recalled to the SA national football squad, along with his club captain Lebogang Manyama. The last time the Cape Town-born keeper was in the Bafana reckoning was in 2010, when he was in the World Cup squad.

Now, seven years later, and still a solid and reliable presence for City, Walters is back in the national picture.

He is, however, expecting a tough outing against Celtic on Saturday.

“It’ll be a difficult game against Celtic,” he said. “They have a new coach (Luc Eymael) in place and I’m sure that he’ll implement new structures at the club. He did pretty well at Polokowane City, his previous club, and he’ll surely bring similar structures now that he is at Celtic. And, you know, whenever a new coach comes in, players perform because they know there are positions available.

“Also, because Celtic are struggling, they have come in for quite a bit of stick from their own supporters. So their players will be eager to give of their best, especially because it is a home game for them. But we can use that to our advantage. If we score early, we can perhaps turn their supporters against them, and put them under even more pressure.

Celtic are currently fourth-from-bottom on the PSL standings, having accumulated just 18 points. The arrival of Belgian Eymael as coach, though, is expected to bring in some organisation and cohesion to the team.

The outing against City on Saturday will be Eymael’s first official game in charge, where the former Polokwane coach will take his seat on the bench for his new club. He has finally received his documentation to continue his work in the country, but now at Celtic.