Celtic stormed to a two goal lead, but the second half saw Clitheroe come back strongly. Though they deserves the draw, the manner of the draw left a sour taste.

Aaron Dwyer limped off early doors for Celtic, after already posing something of an attacking threat. Obua Mugalula replaced him. It took ten minutes, but a piece of trickery, strength and speed got Mugalula to the byline where he whipped the ball in. Darius Osei knew where to be and when for a side foot volley to open the scoring. A cracker from Osei took a wicked deflection sending the ball out for a corner just past the half hour mark. It didn’t matter, as Cole Lonsdale’s corner came in, so did Max Leonard to thump in a second for Celtic. Celtic looked on top, with Clitheroe having a lot of work to do for the second half.

The visitors looked dangerous from set-pieces all game. Ten minutes into the half, a corner earned from sustained pressure. Although Sefton Gonzales looked to be the usual target, this time, Andrew Teague was picked out. The perennial thorn in Celtic’s side over the years struck again, halving the deficit.

The Celtic defence held firm, despite losing Jack Tinning to another crunching challenge. However, Clitheroe pressed hard, looking for an equaliser. Moments before full time, it looked like Teague had done it again after Gonzale’s rocket needed a foot from Connor O’Grady to deny him a goal. However, Luke Hewitson pulled off an incredible save, getting down low in a crowd to smother his header. Half-hearted calls for it crossing the line were waved away.

The visitors threw everything they had at Celtic. Pawel Zuk blocked on the line from William Hall as they game went into six minutes of stoppages. Domaine Rouse saw Hewitson pull off another important and stunning save, close to him, getting his full body behind the ball. It looked like Hewitson’s heroics had earned Celtic three points.

Then, ten minutes into the six added minutes, Brad Byrne volleyed cleared a looping ball. A Clitheroe player went down in the box and made contact with Byrne.

Penalty.

Richard Baker took the spot kick, and Clitheroe had the draw.