Celtic breezed past a disjointed Bishop's Stortford side to notch up their eighth win of the campaign.
Lloyd Ellams started the action early on with a tame effort from distance, quickly followed by some good movement that culminated in Greg Wilkinson firing off a cracking shot that Nicky Eyre did well to get to. There was nothing Eyre could do when Celtic got a bit of fortune, Jack Rea and Greg Wilkinson combining to put a good ball into the box for Ellams. Mo Habu got to it first, but his clearance hit Ellams and flew past the unlucky Bishop's Stortford keeper.
Marsh went close with a lob over the advancing Eyre after a defensive calamity from Ali Abdullahi put the Celtic danger man in on goal, but he cleared the bar by scant inches. It was two just before the interval when Kristian Platt's inch-perfect seventy yard pass sent Connor Jennings up against Eyre, and the young striker made no mistake sliding the ball past the advancing keeper. Jennings went close before the interval, with a reaction stop from Eyre, and outpaced the Bishop's defence, to latch onto a Budtz punt, only for the resulting goal to be chalked offside.
The second period was more of the same, Celtic looking in charge and comfortable, and a Connor Jennings goal being disallowed for offside, despite protestations from the Celtic striker. At the other end, Jan Budtz had to be alert with an angled drive from Dwight Gayle, and then taking the ball off Mitch Hahn's feet.
When Phil Marsh was upended just outside the home side's penalty area, Marsh took the free kick himself, lifting it over the wall and back down to sneak in under the bar with a perfect free kick that had Eyre stationary and to put Celtic three up and cruising.
Budtz earned his clean sheet with a full stretch dive to push away Ritchie Jones's volley on the turn, a fantastic stop. Phil Marsh went close to extending the lead still further with a dipping effort from twenty yards that clipped the crossbar. The victory became a certainty when Paco Craig brought down Jack Rea with a crunching tackle that saw him dismissed. Callum Warburton's free kick found Jennings who turned the shot into the net, only to dubiously called offside for the third time.
1 | Eyre, Nicky | ||
2 | Jones, Ritchie | ||
3 | Lettejallow, Max | > 45 | |
4 | Abdullahi, Alli | ||
5 | Habu, Mo | ||
6 | Craig, Paco | ||
7 | Hahn, Mitch | ||
8 | Prestedge, Reece | > 77 | |
9 | Gayle, Dwight | ||
10 | Cole, Ade | > 58 | |
11 | Bakare, Michael | ||
12 | Subuola, Danny | < 77 | |
14 | Gaisie, Steffan | < 45 | |
15 | Quainoo, Bernatd | < 58 | |
16 | Jeffries, Jack | ||
17 | Dadson, Junior |
1 | Budtz, Jan | ||
2 | Platt, Kristian | ||
3 | McWilliams, Andy | ||
4 | Meynell, Rhys | ||
5 | Lynch, Chris | ||
6 | Rea, Jack | > 87 | |
7 | Hobson, Craig | > 49 | |
8 | Wilkinson, Greg | ||
9 | Marsh, Phil | > 83 | |
10 | Ellams, Lloyd | ||
11 | Jennings, Connor | ||
12 | Warburton, Callum | < 49 | |
14 | Kay, Adam | ||
15 | Gnahoua, Arthur | < 87 | |
16 | Bembo-Leta, Joel | < 83 | |
17 | Buckley, Tom |