Many must have thought thirty seconds into the game, that Celtic would be punished severely, but a great comeback, followed by second half stalwart defending led to a magnificent victory for the home side.
When Danny Preston lobbed a long clearance forward, the normally uber reliable Matt Regan played head tennis back to Lewis King, but lost out to Javan Vidal who put a pinpoint ball across the face of goal for Shane Clarke arriving at the back post to smash home.
The Celtic faithful need not have worried, depsite being a goal down, it was Celtic that looked more likely to score. And score they did, with movement, pace and precision. A sixty five yard diagonal crossfield ball from Charlie Ennis freed Ben McKenna to take on his marker, beat him and then play the ball back into Ennis's path, the mercurial Celtic player having followed his own cross in. Ennis took a touch and fired past a static James Belshaw.
Just getting back on terms wasn't on the Celtic agenda, and Matty Hughes came close to giving Celtic the lead with a thumping header off a corner, before Ennis and McKenna swapped roles, Ennis's persistence getting him space for a cross where McKenna stooped to head it into the back of the net.
One goal advantage is rarely enough, especially against hard working opposition, but Celtic got the cushion when Ennis floated a free kick, Liam Dickinson nodded it out to James Cadman at the edge of the area, who curled his low shot through a crowd of legs and double Celtic's advantage.
Matty Hughes headed another corner wide, before Tamworth really should have equalised, Kevin Thornton scuffing an effort horriably wide after Vidal had done the hard work of drawing King and Regan to give Thornton a gift of a goal. McKenna came closest to adding to the score line just before the interval when he found some space to fire in an edge of the box curler that Belshaw had to be at full stretch to push away.
The second half was all one way traffic, by Tamworth. But for the forty-five minutes of pressure, they just could not breach the Celtic back-line. Despite lofted high balls, driven low balls, corners, free kicks and long high balls from their own defence, there was no way Celtic were giving an inch. Tamworth came close, with Kayden Jackson firing across the face after Vidal had seen his effort blocked on-route, whilst King had to be alert to palm Regan's header under pressure away. And with Tamworth pressing, there were occasional chances for Celtic to break, Aidan Chippendale firing across the face for Liam Dickinson, only for Paul Green to slide in and intercept instead, feeding the ball back to Belshaw to clear.
So despite the pressure, Celtic held onto their two goal advantage right through to the final whistle, and moved back up the table, ahead of a visit to Gainsborough next week.
1 | King, Lewis | ||
2 | Bleau, Kelvin | ||
3 | Heath, Nathan | ||
4 | Hughes, Matty | ||
5 | Regan, Matt | ||
6 | Joyce, Wade | > 83 | |
7 | Cadman, James | > 78 | |
8 | Staunton-Turner, Sam | ||
9 | McKenna, Ben | > 71 | |
10 | Ennis, Paul | ||
11 | Dickinson, Liam | ||
12 | Chippendale, Aidan | < 71 | |
14 | Wigley, Harley | < 78 | |
15 | Lomax, George | < 83 | |
16 | Crowley, Oliver | ||
17 | Martin, Olly |
1 | Belshaw, James | ||
2 | Green. Paul | ||
3 | Clarke, Shane | ||
4 | Trainer, Phil | ||
5 | Preston, Danny | ||
6 | Vidal, Javan | ||
7 | Adams, Jon | ||
8 | Purdie, Robert | ||
9 | Hibbert, David | > 46 | |
10 | Thornton, Kevin | > 66 | |
11 | Jackson, Kayden | > 74 | |
14 | Simmonds, Donovan | < 74 | |
15 | Daniels, Brendon | < 66 | |
16 | Taylor, Connor | < 46 | |
17 | James, Tom |