There's no time for a welcome back party for Clinton Larsen at Bloemfontein Celtic.

Larsen is back as head coach of the Free State club after spending almost the entire year at third-tier Roses United and gets straight into the job with a tricky clash against Mpumalanga Black Aces at Mbombela Stadium tonight (7.30 kickoff).

Tenth-placed Celtic struggled for consistent form under previous coach Ernst Middendorp and Larsen's challenge is to inspire a team struggling without a victory in the last four matches in the Absa Premiership.

Phunya Sele Sele have won just two of their eight matches away from home, but are confident of getting six points in their two away matches against Aces today and Orlando Pirates on Saturday before the Christmas break.

"It feels good to be back, but many people don't know that I was the head of development at Celtic for the last four months. I doubled up with the head coaching job at Roses," Larsen said yesterday.

"I only got the call from the chairman [Max Tshabalala] on Sunday. I sat down with him and on Monday I was leaving with the team for Mbombela. Obviously there is pressure to get immediate results. We believe we can get six points in our two away matches so that we can finish the year on a high."

Larsen, who finished in the top eight in three consecutive seasons at Celtic and won the Telkom Knockout before leaving for Maritzburg United late last year, said Celtic needed to improve on their finishing. "That's been our Achilles heel."