A first half goal was cancelled out in the second half by the most dubious of penalties in this bottom of the table clash.
Celtic were shading the first half and getting the lion's share of the chances, Oliver Roberts getting two free kicks on target, but in truth never troubling Jonathon Brown in the Sutton Coldfield nets. At the other end, Checkaine Steele had a good opertunity midway through the half, his shot always rising and looking to be going over, but Jack Walton made sure pushing it further over the bar.
After Danny Morton had volleyed a half clearance from a corner inches wide, it was another corner that saw Celtic take the lead. Roberts floated the ball in to the penalty spot, Luke Ashworth's towering header was down to the far post where Connor Hughes slid in to push the ball into the back of the net.
Matty Wolfenden twice went close, and Danny O?Callaghan's twenty-five low shot lacked any kind of power at all, as Celtic looked comfortable in their lead.
After being given too much space to turn, Justin Richards started the second half with a beautiful curling effort from a narrow angle that Walton did exceptional well to track and palm around the post, whilst at the other end, Jordan Chapell brought a decent stop out of Brown after evading several challenges. Celtic's moment to win the game came on the hour mark, with Connor Hughes cutting inside and firing in a great shot that required an equally great stop from Brown, the ball falling to Theo Bailey-Jones, but he couldn't get over the header, and it span up over the bar.
If that was a glorious chance, Bailey-Jones came even closer, when his curling shot over Brown crashed back off the bar and would have gone in but for the foot of James Beresford clearing it from almost over the line. The ball came to Wolfenden, but he fired wide of the mark.
With fifteen minutes remaining, Danny Morton dispossessed Justin Richards, poking the ball off the Sutton Coldfield striker's foot. Having seen a more robust challenge ten minutes earlier waved away, Richards was the most surprised man in the park to be awarded a penalty. He took it himself, and despite what the goal meant and the pressure he was under, put the ball into the top corner giving Walton no chance, though he went the right way.
Celtic tried to get back into a game that Sutton Coldfield had rescued a point from, but the visitors stood firm. Greg Wilkinson got the space for a shot, but Brown saved, and Jordan Chapell had two glorious chances to finish his loan period on a high, the first when a free kick on the half way line was taken by the Sutton Coldfield keeper, only to fall to Chapell, but his forty-five yard effort was off target, as was his stoppage time effort.
1 | Walton, Jack | ||
2 | Crowley, Oliver | ||
3 | Honeyball, Alex | ||
4 | Brown, Tom | > 79 | |
5 | Ashworth, Luke | ||
6 | Morton, Danny | ||
7 | Chapell, Jordan | ||
8 | Roberts, Oliver | ||
9 | Wolfenden, Matthew | > 76 | |
10 | Bailey-Jones, Theo | > 71 | |
11 | Hughes, Connor | ||
12 | Gallagher, Chris | < 79 | |
14 | Taylor, Jack | ||
15 | Ramsden, Josh | ||
16 | Charles, Jake | < 76 | |
17 | Wilkinson, Greg | < 71 |
1 | Brown, Jonathon | ||
2 | Lyttle, Tyler | ||
3 | Probert, Lewis | ||
4 | Webb, Reece | ||
5 | Wedderburn, Jacob | > 50 | |
6 | Beresford, James | ||
7 | Steele, Checkaine | ||
8 | O`Callaghan, Danny | ||
9 | Richards, Justin | ||
10 | Flint, Niall | ||
11 | Green, Josh | > 80 | |
12 | Howarth, David | < 50 | |
14 | Dell, Thomas | ||
15 | Rose, Thomas | < 80 | |
16 | Howell, Harvey |