Celtic had some great chances, but ultimately, in an echo of the 1999 FA Cup encounter with Chester, the visitors walked away after a close-run match.

In the opening exchange, Ruben Jerome looked to have been pulled over in the box, but nothing given. This would be a pattern in the game. Instead of Jerome, Jack Irlam got Celtic’s first chance, turning his shot the wrong side of the post, while at the other end, Jack Bainbridge’s rocket from twenty-five yards to the top corner required a full stretch one-handed save from Charlie Monks. Though no real clear-cut chances came, Benni Smales-Braithwaite got two half chances, his first looked to be heading in, and his second, a glancing header, flew past the far post.

Chester started the stronger of the two teams in the second half, Hayden Carson putting Tom Peers through on goal. Monks came out to narrow, but Peers provided a cool finish, lifting the ball over the Celtic keeper. A second stonewall penalty was waved away when Horan had his legs taken from under him in a reckless challenge, but Celtic didn’t even get the corner. Monks kept Celtic in the hunt with a fabulous save from Dylan Mottley-Henry, coming in on the overlap from Offrande Zanzala, before a moment of magic from Smales-Braithwaite. He cut along the edge of the box, fed by a clever ball from Ellis Horan, and fired a reverse shot across goal, hitting the inside of the post and into the back of the net.

A powerful strike from Smales-Braithwaite whipped over the bar, and – for the Celtic fans of old, Greg Wilkinson shot over. Thos missed proved costly, when Celtic were caught short at the back, Zanzala turned provider again, pulling the ball back for Bainbridge who’d already shown he could hit a ball, and he did it again, top corner, arrow-straight and this time Monks couldn’t reach it. Celtic reacted positively, hunting for another, with what would have been two soft penalty shouts, after Liam Tongue and Brandon Newell were both flattened in the box while pressing. The latter resulted in a corner, deep into stoppage time, Monks coming up for it, and connecting with Newell’s corner with a thumping header that George Murray-Jones did well to see, never mind palm over the bar, sending Celtic out of the FA Cup within sight of the first round proper.