Bloemfontein Celtic boss Owen da Gama was left ruing the loss of the bulk of this starting line-up following his side's elimination from the Telkom Knockout.

The Free State outfit were ousted from the competition following their 1-0 loss to the Buccaneers on Saturday.

'Phunya Sele Sele' were without the services Tlou Segolela and Thabo Nthethe who are with the national squad and Cecil Oerson through injury, but the Celtic boss feels the biggest loss was being without three of his back four following the suspensions of Michael Khaile, Johannes Motlhaping and Wellington Sambu.

"There is no doubt in my mind that things could have been different had we had all our players," he told Football365.co.za.

"I mean we were without Wellington Sambu, Johannes Motlhaping and Michael Khaile. (They) played 90% of the games this season and it is not that they are better than the players that played now, but there was some understanding that had been built up over a period of time.

"To make three changes to your defence makes a huge difference as the players coming in need time to build up that understanding," he added.

Ndumiso Mabena's first-half goal at the Orlando Stadium was the difference between the two teams in a tightly contested encounter, but the former Orlando Pirates boss remains upbeat despite the defeat as he was happy to see some of his fringe players come through.

He continued: "I'm disappointed, but I'm happy that we have learnt a lot from that. The players that were given the opportunity to play, some of them raised their hands.

"Basically giving other players an opportunity due to the suspensions and it was good to see what depth we have in the squad and how to move forward."

Da Gama has now set his sights on obtaining silverware in the Nedbank Cup.

"We still have the Nedbank Cup and another shot at another cup and we will keep working hard and see what we can achieve as our focus will be on that and preparing for next season."

Football365.co.za