For the third time this season, Celtic were forced to play catchup after going two behind, and though level at the break, a late goal from Wythenshawe took all three points.

Disjointed Celtic struggled to get going, and though Matty Bryan’s free kick was close, it was the visitors who made the most of their opening set piece, a corner into a crowded box, with Darrhyl Mason rising the tallest. If anything, Celtic looked more disorganised, and had a stretched out leg from Jack Tinning to thank for a stretched out leg, denying Ryan Tioffo’s header. Cameron Annis Wade was offside, tapping in Tioffo’s angled drive from outside the box, and if he’d not touched it Wythenshawe would have been two ahead. As it was, Tioffo got his goal four minutes later, with a breakaway, the Celtic backline strung out, and Abdullahi Ahmed provided the cross for Tioffo to side foot home, with less than twenty minutes gone.

Joe Duckworth tried to take the game by the scruff, with Kyle Haslam out of his area, tried to take it around the keeper, who brought Duckworth down, though Abiola Obasoto was involved, the latter taking the booking. The professional foul seemed to ignite Celtic, winning a pair of corners and Aaron Chalmers heading the second wide, Matty Bryan the wrong side of the post, before Obasoto slid through Jack Banister to get the ball and Liam Tongue halved the deficit from the spot. Mason tried to restore Wythenshawe’s lead, but Charlie Monks pulled off a great one-handed save from close range, and right before the interval, Celtic were back on terms thanks to Sean Tse’s thumping shot off a corner.

The second half was a case of nearly but not quite for Celtic with half-chances only. Tongue fired a free kick over the bar, and Benjamin Mail to deny Duckworth as he pulled the trigger. In a corner melee, Haslam showed bravery pouncing on a ball in a crowd as Tongue tried to poke the ball home and Duckworth twice had opportunity to pass, but looked for his opening goal for Celtic.

With the clock about to tick into stoppage time, former Celtic winger Jacques Etia took advantage of a change in personnel in Celtic’s backline to twist back and find Adam Davies just inside the box, he took a touch, giving him the space to pick his shot into the bottom corner. Celtic had no answer in stoppages, knowing they can’t give teams a two goal head start and expect to win.