Celtic came within a minute of beating neighbours Curzon Ashton, top of the Conference North, two leagues above Celtic.
In the foggy first half, Curzon may have gone in the break leading 1-0, but the full story was Celtic went toe-to-toe with our illustrious neighbours. Max Leonard, Benni Smales-Braithwaite and Elliot Rokka all forced saves out of Bobby Jones. At the other end, Isaac Sinclair and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts both had close range headers kept out by excellent saves from Charlie Monks, but the third save from Buckley-Ricketts glancing header was outstanding. The goal when it came, saw a long ball over the top, Sinclair with the pace to go one-on-one, and he coolly slotted home.
The second half started as the first half finished, with a long ball over the top, and this time James Spencer with the pace to go one-on-one and give Curzon a two-goal lead. A minute after Leonard hit the woodwork with a cracking low shot, Smales-Braithwaite opened his account for Celtic with a perfectly placed low drive into the near post. Smales-Braithwaite turned provider with an intelligent ball across the box for Kyle Brownhill arriving to strike hard and low, putting Celtic level.
And four minutes later, Celtic were ahead, when Navid Nasseri threaded the ball for Lewis Rawsthorn to run onto. Pulled and shoved, he kept his cool and feet to turn around the last defender and fire the ball into the bottom corner with Jones static. After the goal, Curzon pushed and pushed, until Buckley-Ricketts forced himself into the box and bounced off Javid Swaby-Neavin and winning a penalty. Stefan Mols equalised from the spot with seconds left on the clock.
And so the game went to penalties. Jack Irlam, Lewis Rawsthorn, Navid Nasseri, Jordan Burton and Liam Tongue all converted, as did Mols, Luke Griffiths, Buckley-Ricketts, Luis Lacey and William Hayhurst kept Curzon level. After Jack Tinning missed his penalty, all Timi Sobwale had to do was score, and though Monks went the right way, Sobowale converted putting Curzon through.
1 | Monks, Charlie | ||
2 | Swaby-Neavin, Javid | ||
3 | Brownhill , Kyle | ||
4 | Newell, Brandon | ||
5 | Tse, Sean | ||
6 | Tinning, Jack | ||
7 | Smales-Braithwaite, Benni | > 72 | |
8 | Tongue, Liam | ![]() | |
9 | Rawsthorn, Lewis | ||
10 | Leonard, Max | > 67 | |
11 | Rokka, Elliot | > 67 | |
12 | Burton, Jordan | < 67 | |
14 | Butterworth, Jordan | ||
15 | Wilkinson, Greg | ||
16 | Irlam, Jack | < 67 | |
17 | Nasseri, Navid | < 72 |
1 | 1-Jones, Bobby | ||
2 | 2-Sobowale, Timi | ||
3 | 5-Matthews, Devon | ||
4 | 6-Griffiths, Luke | ||
5 | 7-Buckley-Ricketts, Issac | ||
6 | 8-Sinclair, Isaac | ||
7 | 9-Spencer, James | > 58 | |
8 | 10-Mols, Stefan | ||
9 | 11-Hayhurst, William | ||
10 | 19-Richards, Jordan | > 59 | |
11 | 22-Barton, Adam | > 58 | |
12 | 3-Lacey, Luis | < 58 | |
14 | 4-Poscha, Marcus | < 59 | |
15 | 16-Darby, Ben | ||
16 | 17-Afuye, Michael | < 58 | |
17 | 21-Mahon, Craig |