Not quite one-way traffic, but close to it, as Celtic took all three points in a foggy Ellesmere Port, beating Vauxhall Motors.

Before the fog settled in for the second half, Celtic were playing two notches above the hosts, and in the opening ten minutes, Liam Tongue, Lewis Rawsthorn and Rohan Butler all tested Jack Atkinson, though none were wonder strikes, it showed Celtic getting into position and unafraid to shoot. After a stuck-out leg from Haydn Cooper denied Tongue, the resulting corner caused panic and confusion in the Motors’ box. Kailen Hatfield stabbed the ball goalward, only for it to ricochet from the forest of legs to Ruben Jerome, who back-heeled in the opener. Vauxhall looked for an instant reply, with Charlie Monks denying a strong strike from Dale Jennings. Rawsthorn overlapped Cam Fogerty and smashed his shot into the side netting from a tight angle. He had two more off-target attempts, including a cheeky thirty-yard effort after Atkinson got himself in a right mess. Declan McLoughlin looked set to repeat his goal from Tuesday, but zipped over the bar, while Liam Tongue’s decent effort went into Atkinson’s arms. Just before the interval, Atkinson scrambled Butler’s looping effort over the bar as Celtic dominated.

The second half gave the new centreback pairing of Macauley Wilson and Kailen Hatfield more to do, but they dealt with everything Vauxhall could muster, leaving Jennings to fire twice from distance, without hitting the target. Jack Irlam came on and had an instant impact when McLaughlin raced into the box with the ball, only for Haydn Cooper to tackle him in the box. Incensed, Vauxhall disputed the penalty, and they had a point. Regardless, Irlam took the spot kick, and though Atkinson went the right way, he couldn’t reach the shot. Irlam scoring from a free kick with ten minutes remaining would have been harsh as Adam Rooney heard a referee’s whistle and caught the ball with Irlam closing in. The whistle was on the neighbouring public pitch. Irlam skied the free kick.

In thick fog, Kieran Hamm tried his luck from thirty yards, with Charlie Monks possibly unable to see the flight, and the shot went in, pulling one back and making for what would have been a nervy stoppage time, until, right before standard time, Tongue’s inch-perfect ball through for Irlam sent the Celtic forward through on goal. Rooney slid in to dispossess in the box, but Irlam’s strike went into the bottom corner, and made for a more relaxing last five.