What could have been, as Celtic look at the chances not taken in a game they could have won three times over, but for mistakes at the back.

Inside the first five minutes both Rohan Butler and Declan McLoughlin brought the best out of Breck keeper, Jacob Poytress, with flying saves to deny them both. Breck were almost gifted an opener at the quarter hour mark when Sam Barns collected a poor clearance, with Charlie Monks making up for the slip-up with an excellent stop, and Luke Denton unable to get the follow-up on target. Jack Irlam finally beat Poytress, but Billy Edmondson blocked on the line, the ball coming out to Liam Tongue, who smashed a shot goalward, only for Poytress to deny Celtic again. A goal was coming, and it was a fluid move, spreading the play with the cross coming in for Irlam to nod on, Ruben Jerome to nod back to McLoughlin to arrow into the top corner with a fierce drive. The lead lasted ten minutes and saw the Celtic backline fail to stop Will McNulty, who raced past Cam Fogerty, dodged Tongue and evaded debutant Kailen Hatfield, before rolling the ball past a static Monks. Almost an instant response, when McLoughlin curled one from the left, but imperious Poytress denied him, as he did when Andy Scarisbrick found two yards for a shot.

The second half kicked on as the first finished, with Celtic carving the chances. Irlam drove a free kick past the wall, into Poytress’s arms before Monks had to palm Burns’s powerful shot over the bar. The woodwork came to Breck’s rescue after Poytress parried Irlam’s diagonal shot, falling to Jerome who lobbed Poytress, the ball hitting the crossbar. A minute later and the deadlock broke, when Butler’s low cross for Irlam was instead met by Jack McCourt, sliding the ball into his own net. Two minutes later and Scarisbrick’s cheeky curler hit the inside of the post and came out. Harvey Brookes broke forward to latch onto Lewis Rawsthorn’s layoff, forcing yet another stop from the Breck custodian. With twenty minutes left, McLoughlin broke the offside trap, but again Poytress kept Breck in the game.

With three minutes left, a counterattack saw Sam Burns freed down the left, and though Fogerty got across, a neat bit of skill from the Lower Breck striker cut inside. Again, Tongue and Hatfield came into block, but Burns rolled the ball beyond Monks. There was still time for Liam Tongue to come within a paintwork thickness of winning the game when his header from a corner hit the post, and Breck will know they stole a point.