Bloemfontein Celtic coach Veselin Jelusic said he could not fault the effort of his players for mounting a strong second-half challenge‚ and hitting the post‚ but ending 1-0 Telkom Knockout final losers against Bidvest Wits on Saturday.
Celtic mounted a serious charge for their first trophy since the 2012 Telkom after the break at Princess Magogo Stadium‚ but were denied a goal as Victor Letsoalo’s looping header was pushed by goalkeeper Darren Keet’s onto the underside of the crossbar.
Vincent Pule snatched victory for Wits with an audacious backheel finish in the 90th minute.
“Of course we are a little bit disappointed with the result‚ but I’m not disappointed with the commitment of the players‚” Jelusic said.
“We tried to play the best. The first half was not a game where we showed too much quality‚ but in the second half we improved.
“We had one or two good chances to score but we didn’t. Wits scored in the last minute and they won the cup. And congratulations to them.
“I think this playing in the final will motivate our players to work hard to try to achieve better results in the future.”
Celtic remain in Durban to meet AmaZulu in Wednesday night’s Absa Premiership fixture at King Zwelithini Stadium.
Jelusic says Celtic gave it their all
Bloemfontein Celtic coach Veselin Jelusic said he could not fault the effort of his players for mounting a strong second-half challenge‚ and hitting the post‚ but ending 1-0 Telkom Knockout final losers against Bidvest Wits on Saturday.
Celtic mounted a serious charge for their first trophy since the 2012 Telkom after the break at Princess Magogo Stadium‚ but were denied a goal as Victor Letsoalo’s looping header was pushed by goalkeeper Darren Keet’s onto the underside of the crossbar.
Vincent Pule snatched victory for Wits with an audacious backheel finish in the 90th minute.
“Of course we are a little bit disappointed with the result‚ but I’m not disappointed with the commitment of the players‚” Jelusic said.
“We tried to play the best. The first half was not a game where we showed too much quality‚ but in the second half we improved.
“We had one or two good chances to score but we didn’t. Wits scored in the last minute and they won the cup. And congratulations to them.
“I think this playing in the final will motivate our players to work hard to try to achieve better results in the future.”
Celtic remain in Durban to meet AmaZulu in Wednesday night’s Absa Premiership fixture at King Zwelithini Stadium.