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Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane recently described Bloemfontein Celtic as a fearless team, singling out Ndumiso Mabena as the one who runs the show for Phunya Sele Sele.
As Celtic head into their away Absa Premiership fixture against Cape Town City this afternoon, Mabena will most definitely be the focal point in the attack.
At 32, the talismanic striker is not showing any signs of slowing down. Instead, the statistics are showing that he surpassed the performances he delivered in his first two seasons at Celtic, and he is now inching closer to double figures on the scoring charts.
So far, Mabena has scored seven league goals in 20 appearances.
This is an improvement over his season tally of five league goals in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 campaigns.
Celtic head coach Lehlohonolo Seema said: “The energy and intelligence in him is unbelievable. Mabena is a player I have known for many years – since our time together at Orlando Pirates. I was the senior player when he joined us [ahead of the 2009/10 season].”
Seema further revealed that the Celtic technical team was managing Mabena well to preserve him so that he could last for a full 90 minutes.
“We give him breaks between our [weekly] training sessions because we want to manage him well. He is our leader and it’s nice to have a player like him in a team full of young players.”
Since he came to prominence as the leading marksman for the now defunct Winners Park in the first division during the 2008/09 season, Mabena has proved to be a loyal club man. He has turned out for three premier division clubs – Celtic, Pirates and the now defunct Platinum Stars.
He joined Celtic in July 2017.
While the man from Groblersdal in Mpumalanga has almost single-handedly led the way for Phunya Sele Sele, the number of goals the team concedes points to their weakness.
Celtic have let in 31. Polokwane City also let in 31, while Black Leopards, with 33 goals conceded, held the worst defensive record prior to this weekend’s matches.
“Our challenge is at the back, but it’s due to injuries to our key players in defence,” said Seema.
Celtic has not had a consistent back four in their past five matches. Their problems started when they lost Ronald Pfumbidzai, who underwent surgery to repair a hernia injury last month.
However, Seema believes that the team will meet their mandate to at least get a top-eight finish.
“The chairperson took a gamble with us [inexperienced coaches] and we achieved a top-eight finish last season.
“Now they are saying: ‘Not to put you under pressure, but please better the position [eighth] from last season.’”
Celtic have remained in the middle of the table so far this season. They are on the brink of a historic Nedbank Cup semifinal qualification – if they beat first division side TS Sporting in the quarterfinals next Sunday.
The Free State powerhouse can only hope for more Mabena magic to steer them to glory.
City Press made many attempts to get hold of the media-shy striker, but getting an interview with Mabena proved to be akin to getting former president Jacob Zuma to testify in the Zondo commission.
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