Any plans Celtic had for the first half evaporated with a freak goal, but a resurgent second half performance almost snatched a draw.

It started badly for Celtic, when a simple back pass and clearance from Greg Hall struck Harry Wakefield straight in the face with enough force to send him flying backwards. The ball could have gone anywhere. It went into the back of the net.

That gave the visitors confidence and they attacked, looking for a second. Wakefield may have been seeing two nets when he fired in a low shot from close range and missed, after rounding Hall.

Alex Byrne’s speed got him into the box from the wing, firing in with power, the ball hitting the near post and scrambled clear.

The Celtic defence unravelled far too simply when Matlock massed on the left, dragging Celtic over, leaving Byrne unmarked. John Johnston’s looping cross had Celtic stretched and Byrne got to pick his spot to give Matlock a two-goal cushion.

Celtic’s only chances in the half came in stoppage time before the interval, Tom Miller heading a Raul Correia cross wide and Miller again, firing low, but at the near post it didn't beat Jim Pollard.

Shortly after a scare at the start of the second half with former Celt, Ioan Evans heading a corner scant inches over the bar, Matlock put the game seemingly beyond reach. Dallying on the ball in defence allowed Karl Demidh to take the ball and loop his shot over Hall.

Reorganisation for Celtic changed the game completely on the hour mark. Harry Benns and Alfie Henderson came in to join Godwin Abadaki who had come on at the break.

Three minutes later and Celtic pulled a goal back. Under a lot of pressure, the Matlock defence cleared a ball forward into the melting pot only as far as Benns who was six yards outside the box. His unerring rocket of a shot flew straight into the top corner.

Johnston hit the opposite post from an acute angle, but that was about it for attacking threats from the visitors as Celtic finally found their passing boots.

Kyle Harrison carried on a move he’d started in defence eventually ending up hassling a defender at the near post and off balance screwing his poked shot wide.

Although, it took until stoppage time for Celtic to pull another back. A free kick after Connor Diamaio found the only way to stop the irrepressible DJ Pedro was to upend him, and Alfie Henderson cued it up, curling in a beautiful free kick to give Celtic hope.

With still four minutes left on the clock, Matlock’s backs were to the wall. With seconds left, bodies were blocking shots from all angles. Abadaki had dribbled his way towards goal, the ball fell to Benns who took aim, forcing pollard into a diving save. The save finally fell to Pedro, a yard from the goal line, the keeper prostrate on the floor, a gap opened. Pedro pulled the trigger but his shot hit the underside of the bar and Saul Milanovic hacked it clear to give Matlock all three points.