Bloemfontein Celtic picked up their first league win of the season, when they beat Black Leopards 1-0 at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium on Wednesday night.
The victory see Celtic leapfrog Leopards in the DSTV Premiership log standings, with Celtic up to 14th, while Leopards drop to 15th.
After a goalless first half where Celtic missed a few good chances, Ndumiso Mabena finally put Celtic ahead in the 54th minute.
Mabena made no mistake after being set up by Tebogo Potsane for the goal. Potsane, would have been relieved as he had missed two golden opportunities in the first half.
Mabena had set up both Potsane and Victor Letsoalo throughout the game, but they were unable take advantage of the good work from their captain.
Leopards, who had Dylan Kerr on the bench for the first time, didn’t play badly, but they found themselves unable to make inroads in the final third.
Rodney Ramagalela, who had scored in Leopards’ previous game, found himself isolated, and unable to make any impact.
It was a timely victory for John Maduka’s men, who can use the boost of confidence as they fly out of the country.
Celtic next begin their first ever campaign on the continent, and will start in the CAF Confederations Cup with a tough away tie in the DRC against AS Maniema Union this weekend.
However Maduka will not be traveling with the team to Congo, and his assistants will lead the team.
It will be a tricky tie against current DRC Ligue 1 leaders, Maniema, who have only lost 1 of their 12 league games this season, against DRC giants TP Mazembe.
In fact Celtic’s next few games could be some of the biggest in their history.
The team will return to Bloemfontein next week to play the second leg against Maniema, before playing Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 Final on the 12th of December.
