Although Colywn Bay scored, it was with a rare attack, with the Celtic defence largely keeping them at bay comfortably for the most part, and once Luke Wall unlocked their defence, a Celtic win was on the cards in the final home pre-season friendly.
Ross Dent and John Marsden both went close for Celtic early on, but it was Colwyn Bay that opened the scoring, taking advantage of a mix up at the back that allowed Danny Andrews to put the ball along the floor to Danny Bartle at the back post inside the opening ten minutes.
Celtic settled, producing some good football, but Matt Cooper was having an inspired performance. He was well placed to catch Liam Tongue's free kick and with excellent reactions to deny Matty Wolfenden with a flying save for the cameras. There was no save to deny Marsden's curling free kick, but the post came to Cooper's rescue. Cooper pulled off a truly outstanding save to deny Marsden just before the interval, punching the ball out for a corner.
In the second half, Tom Brown was brought on to change the game. With his first touch he fired Luke Wall's low cross but Cooper got across and down really well to deny him, the rebound coming back to Brown, who smashed in the equaliser. Less than three minutes later, Brown was there again, this time, after Wolfenden's powerful run and low cross and Brown, with his third touch, scored the winner on the hour.
Wolfenden was close to extending the lead with his header onto Wall's cross hitting the outside of the goal, with Wall's powerful strike and Lee Knight's header both clearing the bar, before Danny Bartle came close to grabbing an equaliser with a wicked free kick that struck the outside of the post, but in general, Celtic looked largely untroubled at the back.
Prescot Cables next week, then the season starts in earnest with Celtic looking almost ready.
1 | Turner, Jake | ||
2 | Spooner, Callum | ||
3 | Taylor, Jack | > 57 | |
4 | Akrigg, Billy | > 57 | |
5 | Tongue, Liam | ||
6 | Clarke, Michael | ||
7 | Wall, Luke | ||
8 | Dent, Ross | > 57 | |
9 | Bakkor, Scott | ||
10 | Marsden, John | ||
11 | Wolfenden, Matthew | > 73 | |
12 | Rigby, Stephen | < 57 | |
14 | Flint, Niall | < 57 | |
15 | Brown, Tom | < 57 | |
16 | Knight, Lee | < 73 | |
17 | Winterbottom, Aidan |
1 | Cooper, Matt | > 73 | |
2 | Devine, Ethan | > 61 | |
3 | Bruxelles, Josh | ||
4 | Horrocks, Luke | > 64 | |
5 | Bell, Will | ||
6 | Marx, Olly | ||
7 | Andrews, Danny | > 64 | |
8 | Mendes, Lassa | ||
9 | Bartle, Danny | > 64 | |
10 | Barrigan, James | ||
11 | Mackrath, Jack | ||
12 | Rutter, Paddy | < 73 | |
14 | Weller, Paul | < 64 | |
15 | Buckler, Rick | < 64 | |
16 | Moines, Louis | < 61 | |
17 | Foxton, Bruce | < 64 |