Celtic made their league placement safe for next season with two games to go with a convincing win over Lancaster.

Little happened in the opening quarter of an hour, but for early exchanges seeing Conor Falls warmed up Curtis Anderson with a bread-and-butter effort, and with Keenan Quansah’s foot lifting Joe Rodwell-Grant’s low driver over the bar. Just past the fifteen minute mark, Douglas Nyaupembe burst past Ben Anderson, only for the Lancaster fullback to unceremoniously shove his opposite number to the floor. Stephen Brogan stepped up to take the penalty, with Curtis Anderson glad he went the wrong way as it blasted into the back of the net as the only shot on target for the rest of the half.

The second half saw more in the way of action. What looked a simple effort from Simon Willis bounced awkwardly in front of Grant Shenton, requiring him to fumble the ball over the bar. Lancaster looked the more likely to score, however, Shenton had other ideas, pulling off a one-handed flying stop from Charlie Bailey’s curling free kick.

The game swung totally in Celtic’s favour when Josh Edwards curled a ball over the Lancaster back line for Justin Johnson to race onto. Johnson outpaced the defence, rounded Curtis Anderson and slotted in the goal that gave Celtic the cushion to see the game out.

Nyaupembe gave the game a gloss when Johnson turned provider, interchanging with Nyaupembe leaving him with an acute angle, but Nyaupembe took the chance, curling in the third goal deep into stoppage time. With other results going the right way, Celtic lifted clear of the foot of the table in time for the Derby against Hyde on Monday.