GOLDEN ARROWS VS BLOEM CELTIC | ABSA

Competition: PSL
Date: Wednesday, 04 November 2009
Venue: Chatsworth
Kick-off: 15:30

Golden Arrows and Bloemfontein Celtic played to a 1-1 draw in their Absa Premiership match played at the Chatsworth Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

Abafana Bes’thende surged into an early lead through Thamsanqa Gabuza but Prince Olomu continued his excellent form for Phunya Sele Sele when he drew the Bloemfontein side level.

It is Arrows’ tenth stalemate in 14 matches and they most certainly hold the dubious title of ‘draw kings’ at this stage of the season.

Arrows enjoyed most of the possession and territory in the early minutes and duly capitalised on their good start when striker Thamsanqa Gabuza headed home Nqobizitha Mkhize’s free kick to make it 1-0 to the home side in the 12th minute.

However, the KwaZulu-Natal team’s lead was short lived, as Prince Olomu drew Celtic level in the 20th minute when he fired home a low shot after being put into space by a clever pass from Tlou Segolela.

Just a minute after being pegged back, Arrows should have retaken the lead when Siyanda Zwane produced a great cross but Francis Kombe was unable to direct his header on target.

On 34 minutes it was Gabuza’s turn to miss out on a good chance as he was unable to find the target with his headed effort, much to the relief of Patrick Tignyemb in the Phunya Sele Sele goal.

Abafana Bes’thende looked strong in the final minutes of the first half but they were unable to retake the lead before the referee signalled for the interval.

There was little action in the opening minutes of the second half, but Arrows soon threatened with two headers from midfielder Musa Bilankulu, while Segolela got on the end of a great cross from Mbhuyiselo Sambu but could only place his effort straight at Thulasizwe Khuzwayo.

Just past the hour mark Arrows introduced Richard Henyekane from the bench, with coach Manqoba Mngqithi clearly looking to his leading marksman to make the difference in the evenly-contested match.

Henyekane had his first sight of goal ten minutes after coming on but his 20 yard shot flashed just wide of Celtic’s goal posts.

Celtic substitute Patrick Malokase has a reputation of being dangerous from dead-ball situations but his 75th minute free kick was wide of the mark, giving no trouble to Khuzwayo in the Arrows goal.

Three minutes later Gabuza drilled a powerful shot on target that looked destined to ripple the back of the net but Tignyemb was on hand to make an excellent save that kept his side on a level pegging.

Golden Arrows (1) 1 (Gabuza 12’)
Bloemfontein Celtic (1) 1 (Olomu 20’)

Arrows:(4-4-2) Khuzwayo; Zwane, Sanweni, Musonda, Tom; Mkhize (Mncube 80’), Bilankulu, Zothwane, Manqana (Tanoh 71’); Gabuza, Kombe (R. Henyekane 62’)

Celtic: (4-4-2) Tignyemb; Sambu, Khaile, Tsotetsi, Goldstone; Segolela (Ndlovu 83’), Nthethe, Olomu, Mokheti; Spandeel (Malokase 56’), Walaza (Mototo 90’)