Soccer
Celtic beat Sundowns in Pretoria─── 11:37 Mon, 29 Apr 2013
A first half Ruzaigh Gamildien strike handed visiting Bloemfontein Celtic a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Mamelodi Sundowns in an Absa Premiership clash at the Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday night.
The visitors followed up their 1-0 victory over Golden Arrows last weekend with a successive victory over the Chloorkop outfit.
The hosts slipped further away from the top eight and looked destined for a bottom half finish as the Premiership season approached its conclusion.
A quiet opening period saw few opportunities for either side, but it was Sundowns who dominated the early possession, but failed to test Celtic goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb.
Jabulani Shongwe had the first real chance in the 20th minute, but squandered a promising opportunity when he pulled his volleyed effort well wide of the target, after some good work from Downs striker Nyasha Mushekwi, who nodded a ball down to Shongwe inside the area.
Seven minutes later, Richard Henyekane had a double opportunity to open the scoring for the Brazilians but, like Shongwe, missed his mark and let Celtic off the hook, after getting himself into great positions inside the visitors' area.
Having been under pressure for the entire half, Celtic took full advantage of a defensive blunder by Sundowns seven minutes from the break, when Joel Mogorosi played a tricky ball behind the Sundowns' defence from a wide position.
A retreating Alje Schut collided with his goalkeeper Wayne Sandilands after a miscommunication, which allowed Gamildien to slot home past the goalkeeper into an unoccupied net.
A disappointing first half for the hosts was coupled with an equally uninspired second period, save for a late flurry 12 minutes from time.
Celtic and Tignyemb, in particular, were equal to the task, denying Sundowns twice in as many minutes as Tignyemb kept Celtic ahead with a couple of fine stops.
Sundowns continued to attack and had second half replacement Katlego Mphela go close five minutes from time, but once again Tignyemb was on hand, pulling off a straightforward save to keep his side's lead intact.
- SAPA.
The visitors followed up their 1-0 victory over Golden Arrows last weekend with a successive victory over the Chloorkop outfit.
The hosts slipped further away from the top eight and looked destined for a bottom half finish as the Premiership season approached its conclusion.
A quiet opening period saw few opportunities for either side, but it was Sundowns who dominated the early possession, but failed to test Celtic goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb.
Jabulani Shongwe had the first real chance in the 20th minute, but squandered a promising opportunity when he pulled his volleyed effort well wide of the target, after some good work from Downs striker Nyasha Mushekwi, who nodded a ball down to Shongwe inside the area.
Seven minutes later, Richard Henyekane had a double opportunity to open the scoring for the Brazilians but, like Shongwe, missed his mark and let Celtic off the hook, after getting himself into great positions inside the visitors' area.
Having been under pressure for the entire half, Celtic took full advantage of a defensive blunder by Sundowns seven minutes from the break, when Joel Mogorosi played a tricky ball behind the Sundowns' defence from a wide position.
A retreating Alje Schut collided with his goalkeeper Wayne Sandilands after a miscommunication, which allowed Gamildien to slot home past the goalkeeper into an unoccupied net.
A disappointing first half for the hosts was coupled with an equally uninspired second period, save for a late flurry 12 minutes from time.
Celtic and Tignyemb, in particular, were equal to the task, denying Sundowns twice in as many minutes as Tignyemb kept Celtic ahead with a couple of fine stops.
Sundowns continued to attack and had second half replacement Katlego Mphela go close five minutes from time, but once again Tignyemb was on hand, pulling off a straightforward save to keep his side's lead intact.
- SAPA.
