Two first half goals with a third in the second half eased Celtic through to the next round of the Cheshire Senior Cup without too many scares.

A somewhat different line-up for Celtic saw two of the under-eighteens on the bench, but without a huge squad, it was the regulars who made the early running. Jake Burton started the chances after a sublime curling ball from Justin Johnson set him free, a tenacious Congleton defence mad the chance hard, but his shot still evaded David Parton in the Bear’s goals, thumping back off the crossbar. The first goal of the match came immediately after a great stop from Parton, Dougie Nyaupembe's quick delivery after a short corner was nodded towards goal by Shane Killock, Parton blocking and Charley Doyle pouncing to smash the ball into the roof of the net.

Johnson could have doubled it immediately, but his low drive to the bottom corner lacked the power to trouble Parton, whilst at the other end, Celtic had somewhat of a reminder not to take the hosts for granted, as former Port Vale and Bury striker, Thomas Pope, wriggled free of Shane Killock producing an important reaction block from Will Huffer, the rebound falling to an offside Ethan Hartshorn.

That reminder saw Josh Dawodu link up with Marcus Dackers, much as he did against Mickleover, curling in a great cross for the on-loan striker to head off the crossbar and in over the goalline just before the interval.

Celtic had to survive a small bit of pressure from Congleton after the restart, Eric Graves firing over and Connor O’Grady putting his body in the way of Gary Robert’s wicked effort, but Celtic survived and pressed back, with Burton latching onto a loose ball at the edge of the box, slipping it sideways to Matty Jones. Jones, a regular in the under-eighteens, remained unfazed to swivel and curl an unstoppable world-class shot into the top corner.

Burton himself, could have added to it, but Parton got down well to give the home side hope in the last twenty minutes, which they used to carve out a couple of chances, the best of which fell to Arron Johns from a corner that saw Huffer produce the save of the match, getting down low to maintain his clean sheet.