Match Report -
Celtic fail to find their fluidity
By Iain Benson
Both teams were slow to get going, with Hinckley's Gary Ricketts registering the first effort, a header over from a corner, and Celtic's Phil Marsh getting the first shot on target when Connor Jennings played him in with persistence and Marsh shooting on the turn towards the top corner but Denham Hinds was well positioned and caught simply.

Hinckley snatched the opener when Joel Bembo-Lita was caught in possession and Sam Belcher was played in by Ricketts to smash a shot in at the near post with Jan Budtz getting a foot and a hand on the shot, but not enough to keep it out.

Lloyd Ellams had two glorious chances to equalise, a layoff from Marsh smashed narrowly over the bar, and industrious work from Joel Bembo-Lita gave Ellams a yard of space but he fired just over the bar. Hinckley were content to sit on the lead to see out the half, and even managed a couple of efforts before the whistle, a distance effort from Lloyd Kerry no problem from Budtz.

Celtic looked a little more fluid in the second half, but the long ball from the first half was in evidence again. There was always a chance that something would come from the sixty yard passes from the Celtic defence and so it proved as Lee Elam outpaced Cyrus Christie to latch onto Kristian Platt's seventy yard pass into the box and flicked his header past Hinds to put Celtic back on terms.

Celtic went looking for a winner, and looked the better team for it as they started to mix their passes. Jennings flicked a header the wrong side of the post, and Craig Hobson (on for Ellams) used his strength to get past Rikki Bains and unbleash a thunderous shot that flew across the face and just wide. Marsh was unlucky when fired over the bar from the edge of the box, and Jennings nodded a corner just over the bar, and Hobson again went close. Hobson was on target twice in two minutes, but neither forced an outstanding save from Hinds, and as the game went into stoppage time Lee Elam cut inside his marker and curled one just wide. In the last attack of the match Celtic won a last minute corner, however Celtic were unable to convert it with Rhys Meynell getting his head on it but summing Celtic's afternoon up by firing wide.

1Hinds, Denham  
2Christie, Cyrus  
3Giddings, Stuart  
4Gooding, Andy  > 49
5Bains, Rikki  
6Hooman, Harry  
7Kerry, Lloyd  
8Strachan, Gavin  
9Ricketts, Gary  
10Belcher, Sam  
11Reid, JamesYellow Card 
12Gray, Andre  
14Newton, Danny  
15Mace, James  
16Gudger, ConnorYellow Card < 49
17Deakin, Ian  
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