Marine sink Celtic

Pre-Season Friendly: Stalybridge Celtic 1-2 Marine

Marine gave Celtic an opportunity to see how their season might shape up against a team that will be pushing for promotion back into the Northern Premier. Despite going a goal down right on halftime, Celtic pulled one back, only to concede a penalty midway through the second period. 

The first half was a largely ponderous affair, the early running done by Marine. Alex Doyle saw his half volley off a corner routine come back off the bar, whilst the closes Celtic came to scoring in the opening period was a fine through ball from Sam Wedgebury, perfectly weighted into the path of Matty Hughes to go one-on-one with Bayleigh Passant in the visiting nets. Passant stood up well and pulled off a fine stop. From the corner, Marine broke with James Joyce running the full length of the field only to meet resistance as he reached the Celtic box, his shot pushed around the post for a corner at the opposite end. 

Marine almost took the lead when James Barrington’s whipped in cross evaded everybody, Grant Shenton reacting well to keep the score goalless. They did take the lead a moment later when a corner fizzed across the face of goal to the back post where James Joyce waited to head the ball back into the mix. Niall Cummins got his customary goal against Celtic, heading past Shenton right before the half time whistle. 

The second half followed on from the first without much in the way of chances for either side. On the hour, Stephen O’Halloran, Callum Harris and Sope Awe were brought on, making an impact almost immediately. Harris held off two before whipping in a cross. Jack Ryan squeezed between two defenders and nodded past Passant to equalise. 

The lead lasted less than ten minutes as James Devine’s looped in cross was tussled for by Luke Barlow, Stephen O’Halloran and Niall Cummins, the latter finding himself sandwiched. A clumsy penalty and Mark Howarth slotted it home with a goal Celtic couldn’t respond to, despite Awe trying to force his way through a couple of times.