Celtic defied the odds to record their first victory over North Ferriby, scoring twice, but the result had more far reaching consequences.

Ferriby were the only team mathematically capable of catching Solihull, with Celtic's win, this handed Solihull the title (congratulations, Solihull!) and it meant that Celtic surpassed last season's total, put a gap between us and the bottom three and ensured we cannot finish in the bottom two.

The game itself was the usual bruising encounter with the Villagers. Within the first ten minutes, Liam King had seen his early effort pushed around for a corner, that Ash Palmer headed wide, Alec Mudimu fired wired and Danny Hone should have seen a red card for an arm across the face of Steve Tames in full flight, but only saw a booking, whilst Steve Tames got himself booked when he came back on after treatment too soon.

The injustice seemed to fire up Celtic, Tames fired into the side netting from an acute album, Danny Wisdom's twisting run and shot beat Adam Nicklin, but not Josh Wilde on the line who headed clear, Adam Farrell and Chris Simm both put in wicked crosses and Adam Farrell's rocket of a shot cleared the bar.

Right before the interval, Danny Hone, who already should have seen red, repeated his foul on Tames, this time in the box. Even now, he stayed on the pitch, but Celtic did get the penalty that Aaron Chalmers calmly fired home to give Celtic a half time lead.

The second half saw Celtic build on their first half grit and determination. Chalmers continued putting in a shift and a half, firing over the bar, whilst Chris Simm's embattled performance almost got him a goal but Nicklin managed to get in the way to force a corner. Simm's next shot lacked the power to trouble Nicklin. Though Wayne Brooksby got the ball past Tony McMillan from an uncleared corner, he didn't beat Danny Wisdom, who headed clear.

Celtic's persistence saw Steve Tames win the ball, Alec Mudimu lift it over to Charlie Joyce, Joyce to spin off his man, chase down a hopeless cause and whip in a low cross which Chris Simm turned past Nicklin to double Celtic's lead with just ten minutes to go.

Ferriby generally finish games strongly, and this was no exception. Twice Tony McMillan had to earn his crust with outstanding saves. The first from Russ Fry looked unreachable, whilst the push around from Tom Denton's header was pure reactions. Celtic weathered the storm with some solid defending and resilient midfield control and though the visitors twice more got through, they never really looked like getting a goal, and Celtic made strides in ensuring safety.