Bloemfontein Celtic 1-1 SuperSport United: Motebang cancels out Modiba’s opener

Bloemfontein Celtic 1-1 SuperSport United: Motebang cancels out Modiba’s opener

Bloemfontein Celtic fought back to hold SuperSport United to a 1-1 draw in a PSL match which was played in the City of Roses on Wednesday night.

Phunya Sele Sele were keen to return to winning ways in the league having succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to Black Leopards in their last game in the competition.

Coach Lehlohonolo Seema surprisingly named inexperienced strikers Neo Maema and Sera Motebang in the starting line-up ahead of Harris Tchlimbou, who started from the bench.

On the other hand, Matsatsantsa were hoping to extend their unbeaten run to three matches in the league having drawn 2-2 with Leopards in their previous game in the competition.

Seema’s counterpart, Kaitano Tembo adopted a cautious approach as central midfielders Jamie Webber, Teboho Mokoena and Sipho Mbule all started, while Thamsanqa Gabuza was benched.

The visitors dominated possession with Webber pulling the strings in the middle of the park and his well-taken cross was nearly headed home by Bradley Grobler.

SuperSport’s early pressure did pay off as they broke the deadlock through Aubrey Modiba 19 minutes into the encounter. 

The South Africa international hit the back of the net with neatly taken set-piece which beat Celtic goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane to make it 1-0 to SuperSport.

Matsatsantsa did not sit back after taking the lead as former Orlando Pirates shot-stopper Mabokgwane was forced to pull off two great saves to deny Modiba and Evans Rusike.

The last chance of the first half fell for Webber, but the 21-year-old player placed his effort over the crossbar and SuperSport were leading 1-0 against Celtic at the interval.

Celtic came back rejuvenated following their half-time team talk with Seema and they managed to grab an early goal in the second half.

Lantshane Phalane set-up Motebang, who made no mistake as he beat Ronwen Williams in the Matsatsantsa goal-posts to make it 1-1 in the 50th minute.

The visitors then took control of the match with Rusike making dangerous runs into the hosts’ box and he came close to scoring when his effort hit the side-netting.

The Zimbabwe international was causing havoc for the Phunya Sele Sele defence as his goal-bound effort was brilliantly kept out by Mabokgwane towards the end of the match.

Both teams launched attacks in the closing stages of the match, but they could not find the back of the net and ultimately, Celtic drew 1-1 with SuperSport on the night.

The draw saw Celtic and SuperSport climb up to the 11th and fifth spots respectively on the league standings.