Celtic hit the post twice in a game in which Shifnal’s goal led a charmed life, whilst two preventable goals gave the visitors another draw to add to their collection.

Both Liam Tongue and Max Leonard had early chances, with Celtic camped around the Shifnal box, but too much space at the back gave Kevin Da Veiga Monteiro a great chance from Matthew Barnes-Homer’s flick on, and Monteiro took it well, making it look like another dreary afternoon at Bower Fold, but Celtic had other ideas. Tongue’s overhead kick flew wide, Max Leonard’s forty-yard looped shot didn’t fool Andrew Wycherley and Jack Tinning finished off a move he started, but also missed the target. A fine double save from Wycherley denied Celtic the equaliser as first a block from Tongue, then a second as Ruben Jerome pounced on the loose ball. Aaron Chalmers couldn’t get his header on target from the corner, and Jordan Butterworth fired inches over the bar from thirty yards.

A goal looked almost certain and a total team goal produced it, Leonard’s final flick into the path of a rampaging Mike Koral and Koral didn’t disappoint with an excellent strike Wycherley could do nothing about at the half hour mark. And still Celtic came. Leonard’s strike rattled the post and Ellis Horan saw Wycherley deny him a birthday goal. Tongue fired in from the edge of the box, with a good stop from Wycherley and Leonard finished the half with a cutback shot across the face of goal.

The second half saw Celtic press from the off, Horan’s half chance was scuffed and easy pickings for Wycherley and Louis Bradford blocked Tongue’s goal-bound effort, from that corner it came to Jordan Butterworth, but Wycherley somehow got to it to hold at the third attempt. From another corner, Horan’s whipped in ball came either off Butterworth’s head or Barnes-Homer’s, either way it went in. But Celtic wanted to make sure of the game for the final half hour, searching for a third. Jack Fishman stretched a long leg out to deny Jerome and Dontai Gabidon’s angled drive hit the far post and went out. Traditional Celtic came out, leaving a huge gap for Shaquille Leachman-Whittingham to exploit, putting a ball behind the Celtic defence for Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen to nip in on, and slide the ball under Charlie Monks.

So Celtic spent the last ten minutes adding to their shots on goal, Koral hitting the side netting, Horan firing over and Tongue narrowly wide. In stoppage time, Jack Irlam nearly capped off his one-hundredth appearance heading Gabidon’s cross goalward, only for Wycherley to somehow claw it out for a corner, earning Shifnal another draw for their away draw collection.