Celtic went to the league's top scorers and faced the league's top scorer in Lee Shaw, and possibly shaded the chances, largely nullifying Grantham, although the result was a 0-0 draw.
John Cofie used strength and agility to run at the defence in the opening attack, but sadly, lacked the accuracy with the final product, whilst at the other end, Lee Shaw and former Celt, Stefan Galinksky were both on-target but lacking the power to trouble Jack Walton. Half an hour in saw some good build up play from Celtic, Oliver Roberts and Greg Wilkinson linking up with Theo-Bailey Jones to work an opening for Wilkinson, which he fired in from thirty yards. Kieran Preston looked to have it covered until it skipped on the grass, sending the ball spinning towards the post and leaving Preston to clumsily push the ball around the post at full stretch.
The best chance of the game came Celtic's way just before the interval when Bailey-Jones skipped past Tom Potts and curled a beautiful ball across the face, it was just beyond Matty Wolfenden, but right onto the toes of Liam Dickinson. Dickinson somehow, from a yard out, got under the ball and lifted it over the bar.
The second half saw Dickinson get three more chances, the first, off balance, was rolled back to Preston, he fired a corner just past the post and headed back across the face, with everybody watching the flight as it narrowly went wide on the opposite side of goal.
The home team's best chances came in the last ten minutes. Curtis Burrows fired into a crowd hoping for a ricochet, and getting a corner whilst Andrew Wright managed to pick the only place in the net where he wouldn't score for his snap shot, firing into Walton's midriff from a yard out and, just before the final whistle, Rhys Lewis headed a corner wide in stoppage time much to Celtic's relief, granting them a share of the spoils they thoroughly deserved.
1 | Preston, Kieran | ||
2 | Potts, Tom | ||
3 | Luton, Oliver | ||
4 | Lewis, Rhys | ||
5 | Galinski, Stefan | ||
6 | Hollingsworth, Michael | ||
7 | Meadows, Danny | ||
8 | Wright, Andrew | ||
9 | McMenemy, Jack | > 61 | |
10 | Shaw, Lee | ||
11 | Shaw, Luke | > 54 | |
12 | Burrows, Curtis | < 54 | |
14 | Hempenstall, Jordan | < 61 | |
15 | Baker, Matt | ||
16 | Thompson, Ryley | ||
17 | Curtis, Tom |
1 | Walton, Jack | ||
2 | Morton, Danny | ||
3 | Honeyball, Alex | > 71 | |
4 | Wilkinson, Greg | ||
5 | Ashworth, Luke | ||
7 | Bailey-Jones, Theo | > 74 | |
8 | Roberts, Oliver | ||
9 | Dickinson, Liam | ||
10 | Wolfenden, Matthew | ||
12 | Neville, Lee | < 71 | |
14 | Chippendale, Aidan | < 74 | |
15 | Charles, Jake | < 66 | |
16 | Julien, Sebastian | ||
17 | Slinn, Joe |