Though the visitors had chances, they were never clear cut, and Jan Budtz hardly had a save to make. In the opening period, Celtic were all over the Boston back line, with Phil Marsh running the centrehalves ragged. He teed up Craig Hobson who forced Dan Haystead into an early save before latching onto avery clever ball from Connor Jennings that Marsh converted at the near post through Haystead's legs.
Boston came straight back at Celtic, and from a set piece the ball was cleared only as far as Anthony Church, who's massively wayward shot took an enormous deflection off Tim Ryan's back to sneak in and put the two teams level.
Boston sat back after the goal, and invited Celtic on, which they duly provided, Jennings putting in a great cross for Hobson, only to be nodded wide by Shaun Pearson before moments later, another cross into the box, and not really under pressure, Pearson nodded Jenning's cross over Haystead and into the back of his own net.
That goal momentarily deflated Boston, and Celtic took full, clinical advantage with Steven Brogan splitting the United defence with a perfect ball for Jennings to run onto, he did so, smashing the ball past Haystead and give Celtic an unassailable two goal advantage. It could have been more as Celtic continued to press, with Brogan and Jennings both denied by decent stops, and Hobson blazing wide.
With that cushion, Celtic were always comfortable. This was helped by Boston getting increasingly frustrated with Celtic spraying the ball around the pitch. This left the second half less of a spectacle than the first, but Celtic went about the job professionally, and when Spencer Weir-Daley raised a fist to Tim Ryan, that was it, Boston were toothless upfront, and struggling to get the ball back with a man down.
After forty-five minutes of frustrating Boston, Celtic attacked, and only a near post block from Lee Canoville denied Craig Davies a goal. A fully deserved three points that showed how far Celtic have come since losing at Boston back in October.
1 | Budtz, Jan | ||
2 | Rule, Glenn | ||
3 | Meynell, Rhys | ||
4 | Ryan, Tim | ||
5 | Platt, Kristian | ||
6 | Brogan, Stephen | ||
7 | Jennings, Connor | > 81 | |
8 | Rea, Jack | ||
9 | Marsh, Phil | ||
10 | Hobson, Craig | > 71 | |
11 | Warburton, Callum | > 33 | |
12 | Bembo-Leta, Joel | ||
14 | Elam, Lee | ||
15 | Austin, Mitchell | < 33 | |
16 | Davies, Craig | < 81 | |
17 | Kay, Adam | < 71 |
1 | Haystead, Dan | ||
2 | Cullingworth, James | ||
3 | Robinson, Mark | > 45 | |
4 | Church, Anthony | ||
5 | Pearson, Shaun | ||
6 | Canoville, Lee | ||
7 | Semple, Ryan | ||
8 | Sleath, Danny | ||
9 | Boyes, Adam | > 60 | |
10 | Newsham, Marc | ||
11 | Yates, Jamie | > 60 | |
12 | Williams, Darren | < 45 | |
14 | Dean, Harry | ||
15 | Koronteng, Nathan | ||
16 | Davidson, Danny | < 60 | |
17 | Weir-Daley, Spencer | < 60 |