Atherton LR played excellent attacking football, with brave forward passes, while defending well, holding their line, earning a two-goal lead at the interval. Celtic rejigged in the second half, and put Atherton under more pressure, only able to break through in the dying moments.

Celtic worked the first attack of the game, getting an early corner, but Lewis Rawsthorn could only head tamely into Joe Bickerstaff’s arms. Contrast with Atherton’s first real attack, latching onto an underpowered return pass, Tom Romano taking advantage. Charlie Monks made the initial save, but Romano got a second chance, and put his shot around both Monks and Liam Tongue on the line to open the scoring. Romano did it again two minutes later, this time pulling a full length stretch from Monks to deny him. At the other end, Ruben Jerome got two chances in five minutes when he fired in from the edge scraping the outside of the post in the first and seeing a decent stop from Bickerstaff for the second. Cal Hunter grabbed another for the visitors just before the interval. His first effort hit on the run forced a good stop from Monks, but his goal came courtesy of Romano’s low cross, missed by the defensive line and tapped in. They tried the same move almost immediately, but this time, Hunter couldn’t get a touch.

The second half saw Atherton containing Celtic, just. Tongue’s effort from outside the box screamed just wide, whilst another effort on the hour mark saw Bickerstaff manage to scramble across to deny Tongue’s forty-yard rocket. Pressure eventually told when Benni Smales Braithwaite chose the brave option, in the attacking third by millimetres it, it opened up for him and he screamed a goal of the season contender into the top corner. It could have been two-two at the death when Tongue latched onto Smales-Braithwaite’s corner, and Atherton cleared off the line.