Match Report -
Late Winner
By Iain Benson
Celtic stuttered through the first half without creating any clear cut chances at all, whilst Woodley looked lively. There was a bit of a blow to the Celtic line up almost from the off when Atkins took a knock during an innocuous looking challenge and had to be stretchered off. With his knee strapped up he had to watch the rest of the match from the sidelines, as Sykes filled his shoes.

What he saw was Celtic carved open at the back by Woodley to create two glorious chances. The first had Daniel blazing over with the net at his mercy after a good low cross from Douglas-Pringle left Celtic exposed. Next up Horrocks hooked Queeley's cross over the bar. Ellington and partner Parton worked hard, but couldn't work an opening, until right near the end when Ellington pulled the ball back from the touchline, and Sykes came in challenging with the keeper, only to put the ball into the side netting.

Celtic had started with the new pairing of Haran and Hume at the back, and in the second half, Sykes dropped back with Hume. On came the round robin of substitutions, with Kharas and new signing Morris taking over form Ellington and Parton. Parr and Turley came on for Haran and Keeling, with Sykes and Maxfield dropping back into the defence. The strait 4-4-2 seemed to suit Celtic better, and more openings were worked, though it was Woodley who deservedly took the lead.

After threatening for several minutes, a long throw was flicked on by Douglas-Pringle and Queeley turned and lobbed Pettinger with an excellent goal. This lead was almost doubled when Douglas-Pringle lobbed Pettinger as the Celtic keeper rushed out off his box for the loose ball, the new plastic pitch gave a little too much bounce to the ball, and it cleared the crossbar.

As the game went towards the final act, Celtic stepped up a gear and started to play some good football, getting around the back of the Woodley defence, and testing the keeper. A great cross by Turley was put into the side netting by Parr before Morris lifted the ball over the defence for strike partner Kharas to latch onto; Kharas made no mistake as he lifted the ball past Higginbotham to equalise. This was shortly followed by Kharas turning provider as he reached a ball he shouldn't have, and pulled it back into a crowded penalty box, picking out Winn for a simple tap-in.

Celtic left it late, but did get the win, and most importantly, a bit of time getting back up to speed. Quite a few looked a little rusty.