Match Report -
Lack of adventure
By Iain Benson

Vauxhall showed a complete lack of adventure even after Celtic went down to ten men, but still came away with more than Celtic after a late goal.

Celtic had the vast majority of the possession, but despite that, created very few chances. Couple with a Vauxhall said unwilling to venture forward on too many occasions, presumably, coming into the game on the back of five defeats, looking to not concede. With the majority of the possession, it did mean what few chances there were did fall to Celtic, with Lewis Hatch and Kelvin Bleau firing wide after reasonable build up play. Some great build up play saw Dennis Sheriff set up Hatch for a corker of a shot that smacked the goalpost. Prince Hayward skied an effort, and Lewis Hatch finally forced Craig Ellison into a full stretch stop with just over half an hour gone.

The second half was similar to the first, but Vauxhall did create a few chances of their own. Dennis Sheriff got his head on a Jonny Lyndsay cross that was inch perfect, but an unwitting back of the head from Andy Nicholas denied Sheriff a goal. On a break away, Tom Rutter breached the Celtic rear-guard, but Alex Cairnes denied him with a spectacular block.

Lewis Hatch again went closest for Celtic, with as dipping looping effort after Greg Wilkinson teed him up, only for it to hit the crossbar. Hatch's final act of the day was to slide in on Louis Barnes taking the fullback's feet from under him, forcing Vauxhall to substitute him off, and for the ref to dismiss Hatch with a straight red.

Even after the sending off, Vauxhall were unwilling to venture forward until the last two minutes, when they made a rare attack, David Thompson firing a ball from the corner flag to the near post where Barnes's replacement, Louis Moss flicked his header past Cairnes to giver the visitors the lead.

There was some time left, but Celtic couldn't make use of it, and drop to eleventh in the table.

1Ellison, Craig  
2Wainwright, Steve  
3Barnes, Louis  > 72
4Hannigan, Tom  
5Nicholas, Andy  
6Fernehough, DanYellow Card 
7Booth, Robbie  
8Noone, Chris  > 85
9Rutter, Tom  
10Stott, Ashley  
11Thompson, David  
12Burns, Michael  
14Moss, Louis  < 72
15Kocsis, David  
16Clair, Karl  < 85
17Jones, Zac  
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