A single goal, two minutes into the match proved to be enough to seal the three points, but with a hard working Avro pressing for eighty-eight minutes, it proved a great performance by Celtic.

Managed by Aaron Chalmers, Greg Wilkinson, Liam Tongue and Phil Marsh (all players who bleed Blue), the players knew they needed a quick start. And they got it. Jack Irlam lifted the ball over the back line and Joe Duckworth had the Avro defence chasing. Grant Shenton narrowed the angle, but Duckworth had the presence of mind to square the ball back to Irlam who’d kept pace with the striker, allowing him a side foot finish with Shenton stranded.

Avro came at Celtic immediately, with Max Harrop firing a half-cleared corner wide, and Liam Ellis powering for the bottom corner, but Charlie Moons getting down well and keeping hold of the ball. Both Irlam and Duckworth had half-chances, but the pressure mainly came onto the Celtic defence. When breached Moons was there to deny them, tipping over Jack Cottrell’s dipping and bending free kick. Celtic finished the half the stronger of the two teams, Milan Lalkovic showing composure and skill to open up the Avto backline and curl his effort towards goal, but Shenton’s strong fist punched the shot away. The second half would have been a little less frantic if Matty Bryan’s low drive across the face had been on target, skimming narrowly wide of the far post.

Although the second half saw largely one way traffic at the Celtic back line, they held firm. It took until just three minutes before the ninety for Avro to get a real chance. Ellis firing for the top corner, only for Moons to fly across the face of goal, and palm the shot over the bar with fingertips. And when Moons was finally beaten by Darren Ehimamiegho’s, he found Jordan Burton on the line to hack clear and earn Celtic all three points.