Two own goals, end to end football, a sending off, and a late goal provided an early Christmas feast for the neutral, even if it left the Celtic fans fuming.

Vauxhall pressed and pressed hard from the off, leaving Celtic under a lot of pressure, which told as Aaron Chalmers horribly sliced his clearance into his own net. By ten minutes into the match, Celtic had taken the game y the scruff and were putting together slick football. Ellis Horan caused the visiting defence headache after headache, and it was his run at Jordan Deer which saw the defender back-peddle until Horan pulled the ball back to Andy Scarisbrick arriving into the six-yard box to dink past the keeper. The visitors were back in front just four minutes later, thanks to a lofted cross at the near post Charlie Monks only got a fingertip to, and Nick Rushton got his head on it, dipping and nodding Motors back in front.

It felt against the run of play with Vauxhall content to lump the ball downfield, as Celtic put together move after move, testing the visiting defence, with Chalmers getting onto a corner, only for Reece Truman to tip the ball onto the bar and Vauxhall to scramble it clear. Jack Byrne, too, came within a whisker of equalising, and Jordan Butterworth’s twenty-five yard effort was straight at Truman. Celtic pressure on a flimsy Vauxhall defence told when Chalmers rose at the back post from a corner to bullet in the equaliser.

The second half saw Celtic on top for the most part, Scarisbrick about to burst into the box, only to be yanked back by Conor Harwood. Liam Tongue’s free kick didn’t bend quite far enough, but moments later Celtic had another corner. Once again, Ellis Horan’s inch perfect delivery found Chalmers to smash Celtic in front. A mix up at the back let Kyle Sambor nick in and grab the ball, to prod it past Monks, but Celtic got back in front with the second own goal of the game, this time Toby Jones diverting Horan’s low cross past his own keeper. Celtic needed clear air, knowing Vauxhall would finish strongly. Butterworth’s forty-yard effort flew just over, and then the game turned on a dubious decision.

Jack Irlam was shown a red for an alleged stamp on Toby Jones (Celtic will appeal). Not only did Celtic go down a player for this, but it meant eight minutes of stoppages were added. Five minutes into which, after pressing Celtic for twenty minutes, Rushton pounced when Celtic could not clear their lines and smashed in a low shot. It could have been worse, in the minutes remaining, Rushton also shot over and required a decent stop from Monks.

Without Celtic going to ten men and fewer stoppages, Vauxhall would have got nothing from the game, with Celtic worth their lead.