It could have been 2-1 by halftime, but instead saw a goalless first half, and though Celtic finished strongly, had to come from a goal behind in the second period.

Celtic tried to be direct in the opening exchanges, getting their first effort through a low drive from Ruben Jerome after a spell of possession, but through the crowd, the deflection took it wide. A few moments later and Jack Irlam got handed two glorious chances, the first from Ellis Horan’s pullback, which he fired over the bar, and the second from an excellent cross from Liam Tongue, which Irlam couldn’t quite reach. Whilst at the other end, Celtic got a let off when the lively Devante Ramsey burst past Tongue and fired an acute effort across Charlie Monks and past the far post by scant inches. Monks caught a header from Lewis Porter after a Ramsey cross, and Kiran Lazenby’s low shot after running out of options was a comfortable take for the Celtic custodian. Just before the interval, Celtic had sustained pressure, but little came from it, and Mikey Shorthouse watched Tongue’s twenty-yard drive all the way.

It took until a raft of substitutions for the second half to gain any kind of flow, with Hanley adapting quicker, though Jake Twyford will claim the goal, at least two deflections in a crowded box took it past Monks, left stationary on his line as the shot rolled into the corner. The last fifteen minutes were almost one-way traffic with Celtic looking for an equaliser. Obua Mugalula twisted and turned to make space, but fired over the bar, whilst Benni Smales-Braithwaite forced Shorthouse into a cracking stop. Lewis Rawsthorn got to Charlie Doyle’s cross before anybody else, but steered his header the wrong side of the post, and then the breakthrough came. Kyle Brownhill continued a fantastic move he’d started, running into the box onto Smales-Braithwaite’s threaded through-ball, forcing Shorthouse into a point-blank reaction save. He couldn’t hold it and Rawsthorn pounced, stabbing in the equaliser.

Shorthouse denied Mugalula in the closing minutes, but the save of the match came in the Celtic box, when substitute Morgan Ethan found the space at the edge of Celtic’s box after a breakaway from a corner, but Monks flew up and palmed the ball over the bar, with no time left on the clock for the corner. Squandered chances in the first half and a static, disjointed start to the second against lively opponents meant Celtic can consider this a point saved, rather than two dropped.