After a break of three weeks without league football, Celtic travelled to Stockport County, to play in front of their biggest crowd of the season, hoping that the rest will have done them good.

With results having gone against Celtic in recent weeks, any points gained from the fixture would not only be seen as welcome in terms of lifting confidence but also in helping to pull away from the bottom of the table.

Debuts for Thierry, Regan and Green gave Celtic a little bit of new look about them but it was Stockport who struck the first blow of the game, when Dennis opened the scoring early on.

The lead was doubled not long afterwards thanks to Duxbury and a long hard afternoon seemed in prospect for the Celtic faithful, who had made the short trip from Bower Fold.

From that point on in the game, Celtic gave as good as they got and competed well. Platt saw a free kick fly over the bar, Abadaki hit a post and then in a subsequent move, responding to a parry by Dibble in the Stockport goal, slotted the ball home only to see his effort ruled out for offside.

The second half started in much the same vein as Abadaki and Ennis contrived to miss an open net before McConville was sent off for a second offence, thus ending any hope Celtic may have had of getting back into the game.

Whilst Celtic competed well, the damage done in the early stages was the undoing in this game and the worry of a relegation dogfight looms even larger.

Although there is still a little cushion below Celtic in the table, which ultimately may prove to be enough, it has to be hoped that the talent in the squad can pick up as many results as is necessary to stay up and preferably as quickly as possible.