CELTIC PAY PENALTY MISS AS THEY BOW OUT OF NEDBANK

A quality first-half goal from James Keene at Bidvest Stadium was enough to see the students go past a brave Bloemfontein Celtic and into the next round of the Nedbank Cup on Friday night.

Celtic has been going through a rough patch in recent weeks and sometimes when nothing goes right, every simply goes wrong as “Siwelele” saw a penalty attempt by substitute Lyle Lakay saved by Moeneeb Josephs inside the final five minutes.

Following dramatic events that saw Celtic owner Max Tshabalala put the tradition steeped club up for sale last week, there was tension even among the stands where a handful of subdued supporters were surprisingly ousting by the home fans.

Celtic’s boisterous supporters are known for their ability to shake the stands with their song and dance at every match. But on Friday night, perhaps still shocked by the previous week’s events in which they ripped apart stadium seats in anger following a loss to Orlando Pirates, they remained timid throughout the match and watched in disbelief as the team missed countless gilt edged opportunities.

Ten minutes into the game and Celtic midfielder Musa Nyatama flashed a shot wide of the far post from just outside the 18-yard area after a good build-up passage of play.

Wits saw a half chance go astray in the 24th minute when Elias Pelembe mistimed his jump at the far post after Keene did well to deliver a deep cross, which was too deep for goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb.

But just a minute later the Clever Boys had the lead when Keene took one touch to control and a second to expertly chip the ball over an onrushing Tignyemb, following a sublime through ball by Daine Klate.

A little while later Celtic almost scored an own goal when Tshepo Rikhotso nearly steered the ball into his own net when he tried to intercept a dangerous cross by Vincent Pule.

Early into the second half Elias Pelembe saw his curling free kick palmed out for a corner by Tignyemb.

Midway through the second half and Pelembe let one rip from just outside the danger area, but Tignyemb was well positioned to make the save.

In the 80th minute Celtic went close when Thapelo Morena got onto the end of a deep cross, but he could not keep his header down under pressure from his marker.

In the 85th minute Nazeer Allie brought down Lamola inside the danger area after Lamola did a step over and caught Allie out. Celtic were awarded a penalty, but Lyle Lakay’s effort was saved by Josephs.

In referee’s optional time Pelembe had a glorious chance to add his name to the scoresheet, but he got his shot totally wrong and scuffed the opportunity.