Celtic slipped back into the top five with a hard-fought win over Kidsgrove while Chasetown slipped up against Runcorn.

Charlie Monks sat out the first half with Kidsgrove lacking adventure, intent instead on thwarting Celtic. With the Celtic defence unneeded at the back, they went forward and the best chances fell to them. Jack Tinning headed agonisingly wide from a corner and forced Dimej Willan into a decent enough stop, but it was Kyle Brownhill who came the closest in the first half, when he hit Sean Tse’s inch perfect cross on the half-volley, only for Willan to make an excellent save.

At the start of the second, Benni Smales-Braithwaite came within an inch of a wonder goal, sweeping in from the wing and curling an effort high across the box, which dipped and only the post saved Willan. It almost proved costly when Kidsgrove finally attacked. First Robbie Hatton found himself forced wide and shot into the side netting, before Nathan Morley latched onto Kingsley Adu-Gymafi’s through ball, one-on-one, he skipped past Monks, only for Tse to be right there. The half-clearance fell to Nathan Morely who must have thought he’d scored, firing from close range, only for Tinning to get back on the line and block the shot.

Any foothold Kidsgrove had in the game vanished when Lewis Rawsthorn outpaced his marker and drew both keeper and defence too him, finding the smallest gap across the six-yard box for Brandon Newell arriving at the back post to side foot in the game’s only goal. It took until deep into stoppage time as Kidsgrove realised their perilous table position and threw everything at Celtic. Dan Holdcroft should have done better when he lifted his shot over Monks, hitting the crossbar, and Monks made a vital touch to lift Morley’s cross away from the arriving Adu-Gymafi. Right at the death, Monks earned the points with a fabulous full stretch save to deny KieranLazenby’s driven shot across the face.