Bloemfontein – Bloemfontein Celtic picked up their first victory of the season when they beat Orlando Pirates 1-0 in an Absa Premiership match on Wednesday night.
The winning goal came in the 75th minute when Vuyani Ntanga rose majestically to head home.
It was a gutsy performance from Clinton Larsen’s men who beat a Pirates team who were ultimately contained and outplayed by a Celtic side with many new faces.
Pirates almost grabbed a sensational early goal in the match after a cross from the right in the second minute, Ayanda Gcaba’s left-footed shot beat goalkeeper Bongani Mpandle only for defender Lantshene Phalane to clear desperately off the line.
Many Bucs players thought the ball had crossed the line but the assistant referee and the referee Zolike Mthetho waved play on.
Despite Pirates doing most of the attacking, Celtic, with nine changes to their team, had their moments in the first half with Lyle Lakay lively down the left flank and Geoffrey Massa often given too much space in the penalty area.
After some domination Pirates slowly came back into the match with Thabo Rakhale creating chances and also coming close to scoring.
Soon after the break Massa again had an excellent chance of putting Celtic ahead but he dithered in possession and his tame shot was blocked.
A good chance gone as were a couple minutes later as the Pirates’ fragility in defence was exposed as the home team mounted attack after attack.
At the other end Pirates finally broke out and Erasmus should have done better when a cross found his head with only the goalkeeper to beat but the ball went straight to Mpandle who saved with ease.
The goal the crowd was baying for finally came in the 75th minute when a beautiful cross from the left wing from Phalane, which travelled at least 25 metres, was met by a perfect header from Vuyani Ntanga which rocketed into the net to make it 1-0. It turned out to be the winner.
African News Agency