BLOEMFONTEIN – Kaizer Chiefs were unable to follow up on Saturday's impressive victory over Mamelodi Sundowns in the Shell Helix Ultra Cup as they went down 2-0 to Bloemfontein Celtic in the Macufe Cup at the Free State Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Chiefs, who had won the past three editions of the annual Macufe Cup, fielded very much a second string side made up of reserve team and fringe players, following their 4-2 victory over Sundowns less than 24 hours earlier in Johannesburg.
With Celtic coach Lehlohonolo Seema playing a team much closer to his strongest starting XI, the Free State club started the match well.
Amakhosi, though, were the ones asking questions in front of goal as Dumisani Zuma beat several defenders before firing wide, before home keeper Sipho Chaine did well to keep out Siphelele Ntshangase in a one-on-one situation, with Zuma missing a great chance to score on the rebound.
Instead it was Phunya Sele Sele who were to break the deadlock, two minutes before the interval, as Thato Lingwati headed past Bruce Bvuma from close range.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/MacufeCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MacufeCup @Bloem_Celtic2 - 0 @KaizerChiefs.
⚽ 🥅
41' Thato LINGWATI
76' Tumisho MOGAKWE #ITauMacufeCup #MacufeCup19 #SiweleleSaMasele
— Bloemfontein Celtic (@Bloem_Celtic)
Following the restart, Bvuma reacted well to stop Ndumiso Mabena from scoring, while at the other end, Ntshangase squandered another excellent opportunity.
Celtic wrapped up the match in the 76th minute when Bvuma palmed Lantshane Phalane's free-kick towards Tumiso Mogakwe, who finished from close range.
Amakhosi are back in action next Saturday when they meet Cape Town City in the opening round of the Telkom Knockout. Celtic face Chippa United on Tuesday, October 22, in the same competition.