In a game where neither team dominated and few chances abounded, it took the alertness of the Prescot forwards to break the deadlock and in stoppage time repeat the act.
Nothing much happened in the opening twenty minutes, with the game panning out like an end of season game with little to play for. While Celtic were pressing, and light at the back, a lumped ball was chased down by John Murphy, getting ahead of the Celtic back line. One on one, Luke Hewitson did really well to get down and block the shot, but the rebound came to Kyle Sambor surrounded by Celtic defenders, but stretching his leg the furthest to poke the ball in. Ten minutes later, and it should have been one apiece as Connor O’Grady got onto Cole Lonsdale’s corner, but a top drawer save from Mitchell Allen kept him out. From the resulting corner, O’Grady headed wide.
The second half looked set to repeat the first half, and did so for the most part. The only real chance came from a set piece, Hewitson flying across the face of goal to deny Jack Goodwin’s free kick. Prescot soaked up any Celtic pressure, but in stoppage time, James Foley had a crack after a partially cleared free kick, Hewitson somehow getting a hand to it, despite being on the floor, only for the ball to fall to John Murphy who smashed home the second. That looked to be it, except for a hail and glory shot from Ethan Devine that rolled into Hewitson’s arms.
Looking towards next season, Celtic need to up their firepower if we are to stand any chance of escaping the league, with the only flaw in today’s game plan being the lack of final third creativity to unlock a hard working home defence.
1 | Mitchell, Allen | ||
2 | Devine, James | ||
3 | Devine, Matthew | ||
4 | Koehler, Nathan | ||
5 | Hollett, Liam | ||
6 | Donaldson, Anthony | ||
7 | Goodwin, Jack | ||
8 | Foley, James | ||
9 | Murphy, John | > 90 | |
10 | Owens, Thomas | > 90 | |
11 | Sambor, Kyle | > 90 | |
12 | Glennon, Charlie | < 90 | |
14 | Devine, Ethan | < 90 | |
15 | McGrath, John | < 90 | |
16 | McVay, Harry | ||
17 | McMahon, Ryan |
1 | Hewitson, Luke | ||
2 | Zuk, Pawel | ||
3 | Lonsdale, Cole | ||
4 | Leonard, Max | > 55 | |
5 | O'Grady, Connor | > 60 | |
6 | Tinning, Jack | ||
7 | Byrne, Brad | ||
8 | Butterworth, Jordan | ||
9 | Osei, Darius | > 74 | |
10 | Edwards, Joe | ||
11 | Robbins, Joseph | ||
12 | Wilkinson, Greg | < 55 | |
14 | Bryan, Matty | ||
15 | Vaughan, Ethen | < 74 | |
16 | Burton, Jordan | < 60 |