Siwelele’s triumphant return delights Seema and Bloemfontein faithful

If the dead do see from wherever they are, Petros Molemela must have been rejoicing on Saturday night at the sight of the stadium named after him packed to the rafters by a jubilant crowd clad in the green and white colours of the club he formed.

They might not have gone by their original name, Bloemfontein Celtic, but you can bet Ol’ Whitehead would have had no qualms with Siwelele FC, so long as they made Masokolara jubilant. And they did so in style — the club formerly known as SuperSport United making a winning debut as Siwelele with a 3-1 victory over Golden Arrows, courtesy of a brace by young Siviwe Magidigidi and a strike from veteran Vincent Pule.

Keenan Phillips scored the visitors’ consolation goal.

Perhaps the ghost of Molemela would have been even more delighted by the fact that the man in charge of the team is a product of Celtic, Lehlohonolo Seema having cut his professional teeth in the famous green and white jersey.

The native of Lesotho’s delight at being back home knew no bounds, and while praising his players for a job well done, Seema was quick to acknowledge the role played by the 12th man.

“The atmosphere was like I never left," Seema said. "I know the culture of Siwelele and I had to talk to the players and tell them we cannot make these people unhappy.

"I must mention and give a special thanks to the supporters. They pushed us even more when the game was swinging in Golden Arrows’ side and they kept singing.

"At some stage, they put their torches on and the players felt the love. This kind of support is going to help us a lot. Bloemfontein is never going to be the same.”

The City of Roses has arguably always had the best football supporters in the land, and the lack of a professional club in recent years had robbed them and the local game of scenes as delightfully electric as the one witnessed on Saturday night.

The team moved swiftly to endear themselves to the crowd with a performance that delivered maximum points and left Seema purring.

“The players followed the agreements we had and they followed the tactical plan to the tee. I am happy for Magidigidi getting the brace. We got a good start.

"We wanted to make sure that when teams come to the Petros Molemela Stadium, they must grind. But there’s still a lot of things we need to work on.”

Perhaps more hard-pressed to work on things is his Arrows counterpart, Manqoba Mngqithi, who began the season in defeat.

“The team did not play to the level I expected so I am somewhat disappointed, but it is a good learning curve for our players. Unfortunately, we were a victim of two elementary mistakes from both our centre backs which created goals out of nothing.

"I did not expect those kinds of mistakes. We paid our school fees early in the season for us to understand how important it is to be safe and secure in those spaces, because it (Arrows conceding) was not a result of pressure from the opposition,” Seema concluded.