Taking into account that we fielded a very experimental team using players such as Thuso Phala, who has not played in a match for almost eight weeks, along with trialist Phumlani Mhlambo and a host of younger and fringe players, the guys really put up a good showing. WHen you use a number of fringe players and they are able to fight back from two goals down and get back onto a level pegging against a near full strength Celtic team it really is an impressive feat.

The character of the team really came to the fore on Sunday and their never give up spirit was something that really pleased me, having had the opportunity now to have been able to spend the past two weeks working with the guys I must say that I pleased to see a lot of things are coming together.

As a result of the team working relentlessly over the past fortnight and having had the guys go through some reserve and friendly matches, it must be said that I do feel that we have done all the ground work in ensuring that we finish this season with a flourish. By being able to have had this two weeks without any competitive action, we have been in the favourable position of being able to plan a way forward for next season by rotating the guys around in reserve and friendly matches.

Having said that I would though like to dwell a bit more on the Celtic game and just put a few things into perspective and say that although we dominated the game and lost in a shoot out, we could have been defeated in normal time.

The equation is simple - dominating a game and not taking the chances that come your way, is always going to work against the team if the opposition are able to take a half chance and put it in away. That is exactly what happened to us on two occasions against Celtic. We had all the possession but we had a lapse in concentration at two crucial moments and Celtic capitalized. I have mentioned earlier that I was proud of the way in which the team fought back to get back on a level footing, the truth is that although the come back was exciting we should not have been in that situation in the first place.

Creating chances is one part making effective use of them is the second, while we did squander a number of opportunities in the first half, we did gather ourselves in the second half, and were more menacing in attack during the second stanza.

I would much rather prefer that we finish off our chances in future like we did in the second half of Sunday’s game, what I have said in the paragraph above is one small blight on what was an afternoon of really entertaining football.

Sunday’s game also gave me the opportunity to have a look at Phala in a match situation for the first time. In my opinion he put up a commendable display for someone who has not been in competitive action for close on two months. It was a good outing for him as he got used to playing in the kind of environment that we usually play our matches in, he also got the opportunity to gel with the guys and understand how they think in a match situation which obviously was good for him to have experienced.

Thuso was able to play his way into the opposition 18 yard area on a number of occasions as he created chances for the strikers and a few came his way as well. He was unfortunate not to have scored in the second half, overall a good showing for him although we will continue to work on his match fitness to ensure that he is able to complete the full ninety minutes.

In addition to Thuso, there was a player presently on trial with us Phumlani Mhlambo who we gave a run out on Sunday. Llike Thuso, he seemed to fit into the team without much effort or difficulty. Phumlani make a good number of runs down the left and also sent in some good looking crosses towards the Celtic goal. He too like Phala, will need to work on his match fitness and perhaps he needs to play in a few more friendly games before we can make a decision on him. The initial signs though are optimistic of him staying with us are optimistic, he too like Thuso will need to work on his physical fitness.

We did not have an ideal start to the week with us being delayed in Port Elizabeth but nevertheless I had planned to get our preparations for this coming weekend’s game against Swallows in full swing on Tuesday. With us still having four players in the South African national team, we will be able to really put the finishing touches on our preparations for the game on Saturday morning.

The four guys in the Bafana Bafana team will be back with us on Thursday morning after South Africa’s game against Bolivia on Wednesday evening, which means that we will have three days with all the players back to sort out our game plan for Sunday, with Rotson Kilambe coming through unscathed against Celtic it does open up our attacking options.

That’s all for today. I will be back communicating with you on Friday and we will talk more about all things Moroka Swallows towards the end of the week.