A last-minute penalty put the Keith Trudgeon Memorial Trophy through to penalties, but two saves from the spot allowed Emley to lift the trophy.

Emley are at the same level as Celtic in the pyramid, in the adjacent league, but finished in the play-offs last season, so this game would provide a testbed for the season to come. And so it proved, with Emley doing the early running. Emley got a chance to open the scoring right at the start with Isaac Baldwin’s overlapping run letting him curl an effort from the edge of the box, which Charlie Monk did well to tip away. A similar chance fell at the opposite end, Dylan Scott’s low drive blocked at the near post. Iyrwah Gooden also tested Monk with his rocket, palmed past the post, before Celtic had to reshuffle at the back. Sean Tse limped off after a clash with Belchior Rodrigues. During the reshuffle, Greg Wilkinson (on for Tse) lost out to a robust challenge by Rodrigues, who gave the ball to Jaanai Gordon to put into an empty net. And so the scoreline remained, despite Celtic upping the pressure in the second half, but mainly earning corners until the lively Ellis Horan raced into the box only for Jack Cowgill to shove him unceremoniously aside as his foot was on the trigger. Horan took the penalty himself in the last minute, and though Celtic went close in stoppages, the game went to penalties.

Cowgill converted first, Monk going the right way, and Benni Smales-Braithwaite converted. Alex Metcalfe converted for Emley and despite Monk getting a hand to both Joe Stavey’s and Hayden Linley’s spot kicks, with Elliot Rokka and Dylan Scott seeing their efforts saved, Emley were crowned winners.

Celtic from: Charlie Monks, Mike Koral, Kyle Brownhill, Sean Tse, Jack Byrne, Charlie Doyle, Dylan Scott, Liam Tongue, Ruben Jerome, Max Leonard, Benni Smales-Briathwaite, Conor Harte, Elliott Rokka, Ellis Horan, Greg Wilkinson