A proper battle on the pitch yesterday and one we come through 2–1 winners.

Stalybridge started the better of the sides with their direct football causing problems with us flat-footed to the seconds, but it was us who had the first chance with Alex Cherera nipping in to steal a back pass, but his first time effort looped over the bar.

As said Celtic were first to the second balls, and they got what they probably deserved when a deflected shot from ten yards out spun into the corner.

The goal was the wake-up call we needed and with Celtic risking more back passes Lewis Buckley managed to beat the keeper to one of them and with a clattering between Bucko and the keeper the referee awarded a penalty, up stepped Bucko who made no mistake.

It wasn’t long before we took the lead when a whipped in Dan Lowey corner was powered home by a rare Frazer Cookson header.

HT 2-1

The second half it’s fair to say was mostly backs to the wall, but we did have chances with the best of them falling to Alex Cherera who had a bouncing ball put on a plate perfectly for him, but he blazed it over the bar.

Stalybridge kept putting it on us and had a few half decent chances themselves, but they didn’t force a save from Theo despite a very strong end to the game,

FT 2-1

Been a while since we have been forced to defend a lead so resolutely, but it showed another side to this group and that we can mix it up and dig deep when we're not killing games off.

The Watch The Time MOM went to Lewis Buckley who lead the line well, got his goal from the penalty spot and put in an unselfish shift.
A mention for Frazer Cookson who put in another immense showing at centre half.

As always a massive thank you to those in attendance, your support was greatly appreciated as always, and we hope to see you all once again on Wednesday night when we welcome Avro to the Anny.

We Go Again.

Nulli Secundus…