Game off - Hednesford
Match Report -
Honours even between the Badgers
By Iain Benson
Celtic earned a fully deserved point against the most in form team in the league at the moment on their own patch.

The visitors started like a train, with Craig Hobson firing in from the edge of the box straight at John Danby, before working a good chance from Callum Warburton's ball, he nutmegged Chris Shaw and bore down on goal, firing into the side netting when perhaps a pass was the better option. Hobson was handed an even more glorious chance from a Phil Marsh through ball, yards out, on side and with only Danby to beat, and he fired powerfully just past the upright. A lay off from Marsh also set up Lloyd Ellams as Celtic were threatening to run rampant, but his shot flashed past the post.

It wasn't all Celtic's way, with Lee Stevenson firing into Jan Budtz's hands, and Adie Hawes firing over from a set piece, whilst Andy Todd flashed his shot wide, and Matt Rheade had a great effort athletically tipped over by the Celtic keeper.

But the bulk of the chances were falling to Celtic in the first half. Warburton was at the end of some beautiful build up play, looping his shot over the defence, but Danby was well positioned, and Marsh's shot on the run through a crowded box flashed the wrong side of the post. Right at the end of the half, Phil Marsh laid the ball on for Lloyd Ellams who had found some space in the corner of the box and he curled an absolute pearl of a shot over the defence and it was destined for the top corner except for an outstanding save from Danby, his finger tips putting enough on the ball to push it wide.

The second half started with a corner for the hosts, and they made it count, fired to the near post, flicked on by Stevenson and Adie Hawes at the back post beat Joel Bembo-Lita to the ball to poke home the opener.

The goal inspired Eastwood, and they pressed Celtic hard, getting on top in the game, and keeping Celtic on the back foot. Matt Rheade had a couple of half chances that he fired over the bar, whilst Lindon Meikle got behind the Celtic defence but poked his shot wide. Lee Stevenson forced a good stop from Jan Budtz at the edge of his own box as the Eastwood man ran through one-on-one, and moments later Budtz was in exactly the right place to make catching David Haggerty's back post header from a corner look simple.

As the half wore on, Eastwood couldn't keep up the pace, and Celtic started to get back on top. Lloyd Ellams was laid on by Craig Hobson, but blazed over the bar from twenty yards before Connor Jennings was brought crashing to the ground near the corner flag by David Haggerty. Adam Kay's inch perfect free kick to the near post was met by Connor Jennings, ghosting in before Danby could react and smashing his header into the back of the net. With no time left in the game, Eastwood looked spent, and only a couple of offside decisions prevented Hobson from going one-on-one with Danby and perhaps snatching a winner, which would have been unfair to Eastwood who had battled extremely hard in the second period to match Celtic's performance in the first.

1Danby, John  
2Bailey, Mat  > 45
3Shaw, Chris  
4Simpson, Michael  
5Haggerty, David  
6Hawes, Adie  
7DLaryea, Jon  
8Stevenson, Lee  > 82
9Meikle, Lindon  
10Rhead, Matt  
11Todd, Andy  
12Knox, Peter  
14Foster, Anton  < 82
15Cooke, Rusell  < 45
16Muller, Adam  
17Riley, Paul