Celtic in Charity Cup win

BLOEMFONTEIN Celtic beat Orlando Pirates 4-3 on penalties to win the 2007 Telkom Charity Cup title in front of a capacity crowd at the Mmabatho Stadium in North West Province on Saturday evening.

Super-sub Rudzani Ramudzuli’s stoppage time header was not enough to snatch victory from Bloemfontein Celtic, as the Free State side won the title thanks to the in-goal heroics of Postnett Omony. Regulation time finished 1-1, forcing the teams to decide the outcome via penalties.Even though Celtic deservedly led 1-0 for more than two thirds of the match, Ramudzuli’s last-ditch effort seemed to spare Pirates’ blushes.Spot kicks though proved to be the chink in Francis Chansa’s armour, as he failed to replicate the heroics that kept his team in the match up to that point.Lebohang Mokoena was the first to miss his spot kick and may be considered the villain by some of the Pirates faithful.Chansa looked to have made amends by saving from Tumelo Nhlapo, but it was his effort – saved by his opposite number Omony – that proved Pirates’ undoing.Lebogang Mothibantwa deservedly opened the scoring in the 29th minute.Though in truth, Celtic could have been three or four goals better off had it not been for Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Francis Chansa’s heroics in the early stages of the match.Pirates rarely threatened the Celtic goal in the first period and showed little enterprise in going forward.And as a result of the severe pressure applied by Celtic, passes from the Buccaneers contingent also went astray more often than not – proving how sorely missed their talismanic Benedict Vilakazi really is.The opening exchanges of the match saw the Free State side apply relentless pressure on the Pirates defence, with only Chansa standing firm when those around him faltered.Pirates paid the price for lackadaisical defending when a corner from the right side of the Pirates penalty area was poorly dealt with by the Soweto giants.The ball fell invitingly for Mothibantwa, who’s searing drive left the opposition defence flat-footed as the ball penetrated the goal.That seemed to spark Pirates into action as they showed more invention going forward, though not enough to really threaten the Celtic goal.Pirates came desperately close to levelling matters early in the second half after some fine work down the right side of the field by Lebohang Mokoena and his eventual cross found Jorry Merahe on the far post.Unfortunately his header found the upright before Sepeke Manamela’s follow-up shot was pushed around the post by Celtic’s Omony.Lucky Lekgwathi was dubiously given his marching orders in the 65th minute after a referee’s assistant spotted an off-the-ball incident, though a video replay showed little evidence of a card-worthy offence.Ramudzuli put Celtic hearts in mouths with a fine finish.A defence-splitting through ball to Merahe afforded him enough space and time to pick an inviting pass to Ramudzuli who beat two Celtic defenders to send the match into a penalty shootout.SupersoccerRegulation time finished 1-1, forcing the teams to decide the outcome via penalties.Even though Celtic deservedly led 1-0 for more than two thirds of the match, Ramudzuli’s last-ditch effort seemed to spare Pirates’ blushes.Spot kicks though proved to be the chink in Francis Chansa’s armour, as he failed to replicate the heroics that kept his team in the match up to that point.Lebohang Mokoena was the first to miss his spot kick and may be considered the villain by some of the Pirates faithful.Chansa looked to have made amends by saving from Tumelo Nhlapo, but it was his effort – saved by his opposite number Omony – that proved Pirates’ undoing.Lebogang Mothibantwa deservedly opened the scoring in the 29th minute.Though in truth, Celtic could have been three or four goals better off had it not been for Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Francis Chansa’s heroics in the early stages of the match.Pirates rarely threatened the Celtic goal in the first period and showed little enterprise in going forward.And as a result of the severe pressure applied by Celtic, passes from the Buccaneers contingent also went astray more often than not – proving how sorely missed their talismanic Benedict Vilakazi really is.The opening exchanges of the match saw the Free State side apply relentless pressure on the Pirates defence, with only Chansa standing firm when those around him faltered.Pirates paid the price for lackadaisical defending when a corner from the right side of the Pirates penalty area was poorly dealt with by the Soweto giants.The ball fell invitingly for Mothibantwa, who’s searing drive left the opposition defence flat-footed as the ball penetrated the goal.That seemed to spark Pirates into action as they showed more invention going forward, though not enough to really threaten the Celtic goal.Pirates came desperately close to levelling matters early in the second half after some fine work down the right side of the field by Lebohang Mokoena and his eventual cross found Jorry Merahe on the far post.Unfortunately his header found the upright before Sepeke Manamela’s follow-up shot was pushed around the post by Celtic’s Omony.Lucky Lekgwathi was dubiously given his marching orders in the 65th minute after a referee’s assistant spotted an off-the-ball incident, though a video replay showed little evidence of a card-worthy offence.Ramudzuli put Celtic hearts in mouths with a fine finish.A defence-splitting through ball to Merahe afforded him enough space and time to pick an inviting pass to Ramudzuli who beat two Celtic defenders to send the match into a penalty shootout.Supersoccer