Celtic faced up to a strong Manchester United team that had not come for match fitness, but for a win.

And it looked like that win would be a formality when Federico Macheda took advantage of hesitant defending to side foot home from close range inside ten minutes.

Celtic were not there to allow the United reserves to shine, Celtic wanted the win as well. Both sides were putting in good displays with a fast tempo one-touch game. And it was not against the run of play when Jamie Mullan's forty yard pass picked out Mitchell Austin. Austin held his nerve and slotted the ball past Sam Johnstone in the United nets.

The rest of the half was a series of half chances for both teams.

The second half saw Celtic make five substitutions throughout. The first onto the pitch was Prince Heywood for Kelvin Bleau. Heywood's first touch was to clear Larnell Cole's free kick off the line. Macheda also went close for a second time with a cracking shot, and Greg Wilkinson kept Johnstone on his toes from two cheeky free-kicks, one a sixty yarder, and the second from a tight angle.

One of the second subs, Dennis Sheriff came on for Mitchell Austin. He got a couple of early chances before being put through. He still had a lot of work to do and Sheriff did it, putting Celtic into the lead.

Celtic ran down the clock as best they could, frustrating their illustrious hosts. It was almost wasted when Jordan Barrow's back pass lacked the pace it needed to reach Cairns, and Ryan Tuncliffe raced through, latched onto it. Cairn came out quickly and Tuncliffe couldn't hold his nerve, rolling the ball wide.