Celtic started brightly, with Adam Kay played in by Greg Wilkinson to cut in and have a blast at goal, but his shot zipped wide of the post with Ryan Young untroubled. The Telford keeper looked a little more concerned moments later when Lloyd Ellams had an effort from the edge of the box, but that shot over the bar. At the other end, Adam Proudlock's snapped shot was palmned away with an athletic save from Jan Budtz, and the Celtic keeper watched Greg Mills's hopeful punt sail over the bar.
Celtic's best chance came from some good football, with movement and passing of high quality culminating in Adam Kay putting the ball into Phil Marsh's path to hit with some ferocity. Ryan Young showed why he has kept six clean sheets in the last eleven matches with a superb save at full stretch to deny Marsh. Craig Hobson got his head on the ball putting it over the bar. Seconds later and Andy McWilliams could have done better when Adam Kay laid him on to run into the box and fire off a shot on the run into the side netting.
A long throw was Celtic's undoing right before the interval, when Rhys Meynell's header out fell for Jon Adams to smash back towards goal. Jan Budtz pulled off a really good stop diving down to his left to block the ball, but he was helpless as the ball fell to Andy Brown whose header over the crowded defence was into an unguarded net.
The second period saw Telford's well marshalled defence leave Celtic with no route to goal. Sean Newton's thirty yard effort was well over the bar, and Greg Mills hung his head in shame when he missed an open net after Budtz dispossessed Andy Brown, as the hosts hit Celtic on the break. Phil Marsh had Celtic's chance of the half firing low at an angle after Hobson had laid him off, but again Young was up to the task. Celtic switched tack to try and prise open the home defence, bringing on Callum Warburton and Lee Elam to add muscle to the midfield and width. However, Celtic's passing game was deteriorating, allowing Telford more freedom. With only minutes on the clock, former Celt, Alex Meechan got round the back of the Celtic defence only to see his shot rebound off the post and into Budtz's arms, leaving the scoreline more reflective of the balance of play. Although Telford didn't score during their period of dominance, scoring instead during Celtic's.
1 | Young, Ryan | ||
2 | Salmon, Will | ||
3 | Newton, Sean | ||
4 | Rodgers, Carl | ||
5 | Whitehead, Stuart | ||
6 | Killock, Shane | ||
7 | Mills, Greg | > 86 | |
8 | Trainer, Phil | > 70 | |
9 | Proudlock, Adam | > 35 | |
10 | Brown, Andy | ||
11 | Adams, Jon | ||
12 | Gwynne, Sam | < 70 | |
14 | East, Dan | ||
15 | Pitt, Courtney | ||
16 | Meechan, Alex | < 35 | |
17 | Yannick, Salem | < 86 |
1 | Budtz, Jan | ||
2 | Bembo-Leta, Joel | ||
3 | McWilliams, Andy | > 76 | |
4 | Meynell, Rhys | ||
5 | Platt, Kristian | ||
6 | Rea, Jack | ||
7 | Kay, Adam | ||
8 | Wilkinson, Greg | > 61 | |
9 | Marsh, Phil | ||
10 | Hobson, Craig | > 61 | |
11 | Ellams, Lloyd | ||
12 | Elam, Lee | < 61 | |
14 | Ryan, Tim | ||
15 | Gnahoua, Arthur | ||
16 | Warburton, Callum | < 61 | |
17 | Buckley, Tom | < 76 |