Reaching two cup finals in a row should motivate Bloemfontein Celtic players despite losing both.

That is according to coach John Maduka after his side lost the MTN8 final to Orlando Pirates at Moses Mabhida Stadium at the weekend, going down 2-1.

They lost to Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup in September.

Maduka feels his boys have done well by reaching the finals and should be proud of their achievement.

“There were eight teams in the competition and we managed to get to the final. It is an achievement on its own, especially if you look at the teams we played against to reach the final [Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United],” Maduka said after the match.

“We will try to motivate the guys, even though it is not easy. Everyone wanted to win badly. We will try to motivate them so we can start winning games in the league.”

Celtic had a bright start when Siphelele Luthuli gave them the lead three minutes into the match, but Pirates equalised just after the half-hour mark through Deon Hotto.

Thembinkosi Lorch then scored from the spot in the second half to hand the Buccaneers victory. Despite the defeat, Maduka was pleased with their performance.

“It is just unfortunate that we didn’t get what we wanted. When it comes to the game itself, we started well until we got that goal,” Maduka said.

“That was the whole plan; let’s get the goal early. After that we had a couple of chances where we could have finished the game [off], but we did not.

“Then we changed a bit. Instead of playing our passing game by trying to create chances, we did not do that. We started kicking the ball and we did not make the right decisions in the final third.

“But I’m very proud of the boys. They gave it everything. We lost the match but with pride, having fought well.”

Maduka said they had gained a lot of positives and will look to do well in the DStv Premiership.