Match Report - Ray Stanley Memorial - Tuesday July 21st, 2015 Tue Jul 21st 2015

Hyde made Celtic work for this victory with a game of two halves (and penalties) that saw Hyde the better team in the first half, and Celtic in the second.

Hyde got first blood when a loose ball just wasn't convincingly cleared, the half-clearance coming to Gerrard Kinsella who dug the ball out of his feet and finished with confidence.

Celtic were left chasing shadows against a Hyde team that were passing well. After a few close calls, it was no surprise when Hyde doubled their lead, Lee Neville sweeping in from the wing and firing an acute angle that McMillan palmed away, the ball coming to Ryan MAsterson, who lifted it over Jack Higgins for Scott Spencer coming in, who nodded it into the back of the net before McMillan had even got back to his feet.

Celtic needed a quick reply, and they got one, through former Tiger, Steve Tames. Danny Wisdom outpacing his opposite fullback, and pulling the ball back for Tames steaming in to smash into the bottom corner.

It could have been two a piece just before half time, when Adam Farrell's peach of a cross was met by the swinging boot of Chris Simm, but his rocket blazed over the bar.

Celtic started the second half like a train and former celtic reserve keeper, Josh Ollerenshaw, earned his pay packet with a string of outstanding saves, starting with a bullet header from Simm, the loose ball coming down to Wisdom, but Ryan Ellison through himnself in the way to deny Wisdom. The resulting corner just couldn't be cleared, and Ollerenshaw was again called into action to deny Tames rasping drive at full stretch, and the Simm with another. From the sliced clearance corner, Bohan Dixon connected powerfully, but his shot cleared the bar. It wasn't quite one-way traffic, with Scott Spencer twice forcing McMillan to react, though neither effort was overly taxing.

With time running out, Dale Wright pulled out an amazing free kick that dipped and swerved and hit the corner of the upright, and Alex Johnson's effort was deflected over his own bar, and then, right at the end, Aidan Chippendale went through the middle, placed his shot to Ollerenshaw's right, caught a wicked deflection off Adam Jones's backside, and in it went.

Penalties.

Both sides started well, with Scott Spencer and Peter Boyle converting their first two, whilst Dale Write, Adam Farrell and Tony McMillan converted Celtic's first three. Reece Grey saw his effort saved, putting Celtic 3-2 up. However, when John Shaw's was saved, it was all square again. Hyde scored their next six, Burke, Nville, Riley, Harrison, Sousa and Ellison, and Celtic matched them with Chippendale, Dixon, Wylie, McKenna and Hughes all scoring. When Josh Ollerenshaw saw his opposite number save his effort it came down to Jack Higgins, who stepped up and gave Celtic the trophy.