Injury ravaged and managerless Celtic succumbed to a beating by merciless Bootle, but despite some defensive howlers, still acquitted themselves for several spells in the game.

A little naivety at the back, saw Celtic push forward in the opening minutes, and Bootle exploited it, with a long ball over the top for Courtney Dufus to chase. With only Max Leonard to get around, once he had, he fired across Charlie Monks and into the far corner. Celtic’s central defence injury crisis deepened when Max Leonard came off worse in a clash on the edge of Celtic’s box, limping from the field and booked for his trouble, meaning he’ll now miss next Saturday’s game, even if fit. A reorganisation at the back duly followed, and nobody had the back post, so as Monks vanished under a sea of shirts, James Cooper had the space to thump in his header. It could have been worse when Bootle attempted to repeat their opening goal, the long ball, Jordan Boon chasing, and Dufus tried to fire across Monks, but you don’t fool the Celtic keeper twice, and he made a great stop.

Heading into the final few minutes of the half, and Celtic started to get their act together, moments after Liam Tongue had fired over, Tongue turned provider, with a lovely creative ball over the defence. Though Anthony Miley got a glancing header, Joe Duckworth had anticipated the error, twisting around the Bootle defender and taking the ball, before powering a shot past Tony Thompson. Going in at 2-1 would have flattered Celtic, but a clumsy high-footed challenge in the box by Milan Lalkovic on James Cooper saw Bootle handed a penalty in the first half stoppage time. Dufus took and Dufus converted restoring the half time two goal cushion.

The second half saw Celtic race from the blocks, with the best build up play for many a game. Duckworth latched onto Greg Wilkinson’s through ball., he didn’t take the shot, instead, squaring to Jack Irlam in a superb position to score, but Thompson somehow shifted his body and got across goal to block the tap in with a stunning save. Celtic were looking good for a goal, and again the build-up play saw intricate balls around the home defence, culminating with Jordan Burton’s ball into the path of Greg Wilkinson for the Celtic stalwart to drill home at the near post.

That comeback lasted forty seconds. Terrible marking from a corner at the other end allowed Jonny Spittle to walk in and plant his header into the top corner. Bootle disrupted play to stop any kind of momentum recurring from Celtic, and with Celtic looking tired, it was effective. With a few minutes left on the clock, Sean Williams crafted the goal of the game. Pushed into a diagonal run away from goal by Boon, on the run he fired in a curling shot from thirty-five yards that Monks’s fingertips could not keep out.