Celtic halted their run of poor results with a win in an almost empty DCBL stadium, but it took a moment of magic to make it happen.

Celtic started at full pelt on the artificial surface. City of Liverpool pushed back into the own defensive third. Ash Leather opened the scoring, when he and Matty Bryan switched roles, with Bryan providing a superb cross into the box, and Leather diverted it into the back of the net with his head. The home side pressed back hard, but the Celtic defence held on, both Elliott Morris and Michael Howard forcing a good stops from Charlie Monks, while at the other end, both Bryan and Max Leonard cleared the bar with decent efforts. Out of the two, it was Liverpool who came closest to scoring as Celtic sat back, with Morris’s effort hitting the crossbar.

Jordan Buckley came on for Leather at the start of the second period, almost doubling the lead inside the first five minutes, but couldn’t get enough bend on his shot, putting the ball wide. With twenty-five minutes left on the glacial clock, Liverpool had their best spell of the match, Monks denying Arthur Lomax-Jones with a stunning save at the expense of a corner. Aaron Chalmers put his body on the line, literally, to deny Howard’s header from the corner, the game continuing despite Chalmers’ obvious head injury and forcing Monks into another sensational save, tipping Morris’s rocket over the bar. Substitution on a corner is never ideal, and Liverpool capitalised on Celtic’s hasty reorganisation. Monks unable to keep hold of the ball under pressure, the chance falling to Jack Hont, who prodded the ball over the line from close range in a packed box.

They could have gone ahead minutes later, but again, Monks flew across his goal to keep the scores level. Ten minutes remained on the clock, with the prospect of seven minutes of stoppages, and Celtic went up a gear. Jack Tinning couldn’t beat the Liverpool custodian, Calvin Hare, with his half volley off a corner, and Jordan Butterworth headed over. Then came a moment of magic from Javid Swaby-Neavin. He rode several challenges to get into the box, bursting through and keeping the ball. Somehow, he threaded a pass through to substitute Joe Edwards, who found half a yard to slide the ball into the bottom corner beyond Hare’s grasping fingertips. Cue the longest twelve minutes in the season so far. Celtic tried to keep the ball in Liverpool’s defensive third, but Liverpool were desperate for the points, and it took every ounce of Celtic’s resolve to keep their slender lead until the final whistle came as a blessed relief.