Celtic struggled in long patches against a determined Abbey Hey, but thanks to a well-taken late goal from Jonathon Ustabasi and a sensational penalty save, Celtic made it two out of two in pre-season.
The first half saw Abbey Hey difficult to break down, but Celtic worked a couple of good chances. Harry Freedman's low drive took a bobble allowing the Abbey Hey keeper to palm the ball around the post and Kyle Hawley's header from a free kick was really well saved. Hawley beat the keeper with a few minutes left in the half, but his curling shot skimmed off the outside of the post. Abbey Hey worked a few chances, though what they got on target was straightforward for Tom Stewart. The best chance of the half came right at the end, when one of Celtic's trialists was one-on-one with the Abbey Hey keeper, only for a defender to come sliding in from an acute angle cleanly taking the ball, shortly followed by Freedman forcing the keeper into a grasping save down to his right. The second half saw the usual litany of substitutes, Stewart was tested more in the second half as Abbey Hey pressed for a win on their own ground, twice making cracking saves. At the other end, Krisel Prifti's rising shot was superbly tipped over the bar, which was bettered when the keeper recovered from a powerful drive from Tom Wilson that was palmed into the path of Kyle Hawley, only to make second save from the Celtic forward. After Stewart had tipped a free kick over the bar, he caught the resulting corner, quickly spotting Jonathon Ustabasi on the wing, releasing him with a good ball that saw Ustabasi run at the defenders. He rode two challenges and went one-on-one with the keeper, curling the ball around the flying keeper into the top corner with five minutes remaining. That should have been it, but a clumsy challenge by Tyler Williams in the final minute gave Abbey Hey a chance of an equaliser. The Abbey Hey penalty taker struck a decent effort. Tom Stewart leapt and palmed the ball with one hand onto the bar, twisting on landing and smothering the ball as it landed on the grass giving Celtic the win.1 | Goalkeeper | ||
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