It was end to end in the first half, with Marsh-Evans seeing a tame shot scooped up by Gamble before Ellington and Barwick both forced Murphy in the visitor's nets into similarly simple saves. Meechan and Oakes both went close as Celtic edged the early chances, and Roca's drive was blocked on the line by McMahon.
A good move by Celtic saw them pass the ball up the wing before Roca dropped it off to Ellington, who shot narrowly past the up-right. Vauxhall countered well, and the Celtic defence was slow to pick up on Reed's through ball that allowed Taylor to nip in and roll the ball under Gamble.
Celtic seemed to lose focus after the goal, but made it to half time without conceding further.
Whatever Dave Moss said in the dressing room got the team fired up again, and a pass and move routine saw Roca and Ellington combine to create a chance for Winn and he took it with venom, smashing the ball into the bottom corner.
Celtic were still congratulating themselves when another through ball, this time from Smith allowed Taylor to cut across the Celtic defence and roll his second just beyond Gamble's reach to restore Vauxhall's lead.
Hall and Keeling were brought on for Roca and Woolliscroft, and immediately made their more physical presences known, Hall forcing a corner which Payne headed wide before Garrity saw a shot saved at the other end.
A looping cross into the box from Keeling was not dealt with by the visiting defence and Hall had the time to push the ball to Winn who smacked his second equaliser of the night past Murphy. Ellington could have edged Celtic in front with a fine effort after creating the space, but Murphy made amends with a decent stop. Celtic went in search of the winning goal, with Winn going close twice - one of which was a sublime curling effort from the edge of the box, and Ellington also slid the ball the wrong side of the upright with Murphy beaten.
Ellington won a corner from Dames, which came to the unmarked Payne, but he glanced his header narrowly wide and Vauxhall again broke, another ball past the defence, another Taylor run and the simplest of finishes to complete his hat-trick. There was not enough time for Celtic to mount another come-back, and the game petered out.
Again Celtic are creating the chances, and now the goals are starting to come, when the defence can tighten up to the early season form, Celtic will end this losing streak that has seen the last four home games end with the wrong result.
1 | Gamble, Paddy | ||
2 | Woolliscroft, Ashley | > 59 | |
3 | Garner, Simon | ||
4 | Payne, Steve | ||
5 | Barwick, Terry | ||
6 | Sykes, Paul | ||
7 | Roca, Carlos | > 59 | |
8 | Winn, Ashley | ||
9 | Ellington, Lee | ||
10 | Meechan, Alex | ||
11 | Oakes, Adam | ||
12 | Hall, Chris | < 59 | |
14 | Haran, Mark | ||
15 | Keeling, Barrie | < 59 | |
16 | Dudgeon, James | ||
17 | Middleton, Chris |
1 | Murphy, Andrew | ||
2 | Clarke, Phil | ||
3 | Dames, Lee | ||
4 | Field, Tom | ||
5 | McMahon, Joe | > 79 | |
6 | Howles, Jordan | ||
7 | Roberts, Dave | > 85 | |
8 | Smith, Keith | > 63 | |
9 | Reed, Mark | ||
10 | Marsh-Evans, Rob | ||
11 | Taylor, Paul | ||
12 | Wright, Anthony | < 85 | |
14 | Garrity, Mike | < 63 | |
15 | Wignall, Ryan | ||
16 | Hatte, Mark | < 79 | |
17 | Griffiths, Alan |