On a heavy, slippery pitch, Celtic stormed into a two-goal lead and never looked back, with Congleton never looking like taking anything from the game.
Jack Irlam made his first start since his suspension and had an impact inside fifteen minutes, first shooting wide then lifting a great ball over the defence for Ruben Jerome to beat the offside trap and latch onto it, once Jerome had rounded the keeper he could walk it in. Four minutes later, and it was Charlie Monks who needs the credit, with his diagonal ball to Ellis Horan in space freeing the Celtic winger. Horan ran at the defence, but instead of crossing put the perfect ball into an overlapping Mike Koral. His low ball found Ruben Jerome at the back post to smash in a second. Andy Scarisbrick could have made it three with a close-range header, but for David Parton.
Congleton pulled one back through controversial circumstances. Max McCarthy looked two metres offside when he received the ball, no flag. As he tried to round Monks, the Celtic keeper got some ball and some player. Penalty. McCarthy took it himself and halved the deficit. Monks pulled off a stunning save moments later during the Bear’s best spell of the game, denying Matt Gillam from close range, whilst at the other end, Scarisbrick was denied for a second time by Parton.
Ten minutes into the second half, and the two-goal lead was restored. Jerome’s pull back from Kyle Brownhill’s cross put the goal at Liam Tongue’s mercy, and he slotted home. Horan went close twice to extending the lead, and Scarisbrick again found Parton between him and goal. At the other end, Peter Williams tried his luck from thirty yards with a thunderous strike, but Monks got across well with a flying save. With only minutes left, Celtic made the game safe. Max Leonard’s low cross to Jerome saw Parton pull off a wonderful save, for the rebound to come to Scarisbrick. This time, Parton couldn’t deny him, and it was four.
A bit of lax defending deep into stoppage time saw Thomas Hampton bundle the ball over the line after McCarthy’s cross in, but it was mere consolation.
| 1 | Parton, David | ||
| 2 | Bates, Jack |  | > 69 |
| 3 | Morris, Owen | ||
| 4 | Williams, Peter | ||
| 5 | Brisley, Shaun | ||
| 6 | Chadwick, Darren | ||
| 7 | Garner-Knapper, Kieran | > 65 | |
| 8 | Hartshorn, Ethan | > 34 | |
| 9 | McCarthy, Max | ||
| 10 | Liptrott, Mathew | ||
| 11 | Gilliam, Matthew | > 63 | |
| 12 | Hampton, Thomas | < 63 | |
| 14 | Badjie, Ebou | < 34 | |
| 15 | Raymond, Remi | < 65 | |
| 16 | Sankey, George | < 69 | |
| 17 | Beamon, Owen | ||
