Celtic picked up their first win of 2010 with a 1-0 triumph over Jomo Cosmos at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg last week. Another three-point haul will see Owen Da Gama’s team seal their qualification for next season’s MTN8 competition.
As their skipper Gary Goldstone explains, Celtic are pleased to be close to ensuring they are amongst the best eight finishers in the league when the season ends.
“Making it into the top eight was always a target of ours and the team has done well enough to ensure that with three games to go all we need is three points to ensure that we qualify. It is looking good for us to finish in the top eight,” said Goldstone.
The defender is also expecting Arrows to bring the fight to Celtic, given that they need the maximum number of points from their remaining Absa Premiership fixtures to also end in the top eight slots when the season concludes.
“Our last match against Cosmos was a difficult one. Looking at our next opponents Arrows I am sure we will have another difficult game. We are aware that at times they (Arrows) can play some of the best football in the league and are also a very exciting team to watch. It will be up to us to take the game to them and our obvious target is to win and give our fans something to cheer about.”
There will be no sympathy from Goldstone and Celtic towards Arrows. When asked about Arrows’ current plight which sees them lying in 12th position in the league, Goldstone simply added, “That is the nature of the game.”
It is weighing heavily on the minds of the Arrows players that this game is of great importance for them, as it could determine whether they end in the top eight or not, but veteran defender Joseph Musonda does not believe that the pressure will get to the team.
The Zambian international, speaking of the significance of the game, said, “It is important for us to win everything we can to ensure that we get the points which can help us qualify for the top eight. It will be highly disappointing if we do not manage to finish in the top eight because it will mean that we cannot defend our trophy. However, we cannot let these consequences affect our approach to this game.”
Musonda says that he has focused his energy on dealing with Celtic as a team and has studied them well enough to know what work lies ahead of his team. Musonda said of Owen Da Gama’s team, “Celtic are very strong in attack, they have players like Prince Olomu, Patrick Malokase and Excellent Walaza who have good technique and are great finishers of the ball. As a defender you look forward to playing against such good strikers and I am looking forward to holding them down.”
