BLOEMFONTEIN – Steve Komphela stole the point against his former employers, Bloemfontein Celtic, in an Absa Premiership tussle as Lamontville Golden Arrows shared the spoils in a 1-1 stalemate with the hosts at Dr Molemela Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Abafana Bes'thende showed character as they came back from behind to snatch the point away from home. Komphela has now collected four points out of a possible six in his tenure with Arrows. He joined them three weeks ago from Celtic. It was an emotional return for Komphela but will be happy with a point. The point pushed Celtic in to the top five on the log.
Arrows started on the front foot asking a plenty of questions on the left and side.
Divine Lunga was storming forward on a consistent basis in the first half using his pace to cause all sorts of problems.
He pinpointed, Knox Mutizwa, earlier on the game but the Zimbabwean failed to bury that chance away as he fluffed his line.
Lunga also find himself in a better goalscoring opportunities but shot straight at Patrick Tignyemb. Arrows enjoyed the bulk of the ball possession but couldn't convert their chances into goals.
Arrows were made to rue those miss chances when Kabelo Dlamini played a lovely one-two with Lucky Baloyi before showing composure to beat Nkosingiphile Gumede with a grass-cutter. The goal came one minute before the interval. It was a well worked goal and Abafana Bes'thende lost concentration during the critical phase of the game and they were punished.
Abafana Bes'thende showed character as they came from behind to snatch a crucial away-point against Bloem Celtic on Sunday. Photo: Frikkie Kapp/BackpagePix
It was blistering hot in Bloemfontein and players were given water breaks to deal with the heat. Some of the Celtic faithful boycotted the game. They were standing outside the ground.
Knox Mutizwa restore parity for Abafana Bes'thende 65 minutes in to the game. He showed his classy with a lovely free kick. Mutizwa seems to be enjoying life under the tutelage of Steve Komphela. He also netted last week against Maritzburg United.
Tignyemb produced a brilliant save to deny Nduduzo Sibiya who curled a quality free kick from the left and side but the Camerionan did well to tip it over the bar.
Arrows were causing a havoc with their set plays around the box. Danny Venter missed a glorious opportunity to snatch the winner for Arrows in the dying minutes of the game. Lunga whipped in a good cross which found Lerato Lamola who spotted a well-timed run made by Venter but ballooned his attempt over the bar.
Celtic had a one shot on target which was a goal but it was enough for them to earn the point.