Stalybridge did their part to go top, beating a largely one-dimensional Congleton, but with Chasetown also winning, second spot was claimed instead.

Congleton seemed more intent on getting set pieces than going for goal directly, winning ten corners, but wayward headers from those set pieces left them empty handed, and free kicks were well defended, with Charlie Monks denying Max McCarthy early on. Meanwhile, at the other end, Celtic were carving chances, and took the lead through Jordan Butterworth, coming in at the corner of the box and drilling towards goal. David Parton fumbled, and with Tunde Owolabi arriving, the ball crossed the line without the striker’s assistance. Benni Smales-Braithwaite forced Parton into a second mistake, almost as disastrous, and it took until right before half time for Celtic to give themselves a cushion, Darren Chadwick wrapping his arms around Owolabi and dragging him to the floor. Smales-Braithwaite took an unstoppable penalty, but it took some smart defending from a corner deep into stoppage time with Liam Tongue and Charley Doyle both blocking shots on the line from McCarthy and Tom Hampton.

Celtic controlled the game for the first quarter of an hour of the second half without creating much, but a harsh handball in the box on Jack Byrne saw the ball strike his arm when struck by McCarthy from a yard away. Penalty. Monks almost pulled off a sensational save, getting both hands on McCarthy’s penalty, but the power put it in. Congleton continued the set-piece route with woeful finishing, and Celtic hit on the counter, Smales-Braithwaite unselfishly crossing for Brandon Newell, but Parton pulled off a great save, but the save of the match went to Monks, palming away a powerful drive from Hampton.

Dylan Scott got closer and closer to scoring, but even though he went agonisingly close with minutes on the clock, Celtic did get a third, Smales-Braithwaite’s lifted cross allowed Max Leonard to race into space, driving down on Parton and curling his shot around the keeper and send Leonard sliding across the pitch in celebration.