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Cape Town - Bloemfontein Celtic coach Clinton Larsen admits his decision to rest a number of players against Orlando Pirates was a calculated gamble.
The Celtic boss made no less than eight changes to his starting line-up, with one eye on Saturday night's MTN8 semi-final clash with Kaizer Chiefs.
Larsen was all too aware of the risks involved, but felt confident in the ability of his so-called second-string side.
"We took a big gamble... had we lost the game, people would have said 'why hadn't you played a stronger team?'," Larsen was quoted as saying by KickOff.
"But we were so confident in what we saw from the boys at training that we knew they would do the club proud, and I'm very pleased with the performance."
When asked whether the strong performance of his fringe players would give him a selection headache for the Chiefs clash, Larsen added: "That's the headache I want to have... Some boys were outstanding, and I thought the two wing-backs Lakay and Wayde Jooste were absolutely outstanding.
"Phalane and Ntanga in the middle of the field, and even [Dumisane] Zuma before we brought him out, I thought he caused [Pirates] major problems.
"So, it was such a big performance from the team and I'm very, very proud of the boys."
