The first half was goalless, with both teams battling against the pitch, and rarely creating chances. Those chances that were created were mainly for the home side, with Brown's scissor kick on target but straight at Pettinger. When Whitman latched onto Rawle's in-swinging cross, Pettinger missed, but Flynn was on hand to hack clear off the line, right before half time. Celtic's best chance came when new signing, Barlow, showed a nice turn of pace to beat his man, but the cross was too deep for Hume.
The second half opened up slightly, and from the off Celtic appeared to have adapted the best to the poor pitch. Walmsley found Winn just inside the box, and the Celtic man's shot was blocked by Hannigan, going out for a corner. Celtic don't score many from corners, but this match was to prove an exception as Hume lost his marker to head the ball into the back of the net unhindered at the back post.
It wasn't long before Alfreton equalised. A Barnard free kick from his own half was thumped into the Celtic box. Pettinger came to claim, but missed the ball, and Rawle got a flick on it, with Whitman sliding in to ensure that the ball crossed the line. Pettinger wouldn't be beaten again, and had to produce a great save moments later from Brown's far post header that Pettinger pushed out for a corner.
Celtic produced some good stuff as the game went into the final period. Sykes and Hume interchanged nicely, the former getting a good angle for a shot which Roberts did very well to tip out for a corner. This time, the corner was delivered to the near post, and Foster was there to nod in unchallenged to restore Celtic's lead. All the fight drained out of Celtic, but the home defence held firm, with no more real chances created at either end.