We go back around the grounds at Steps 3 and 4
NANTWICH Town claimed all three points at Bower Fold thanks to two first half goals and a superb display from their star stopper Greg Hall.
Dabbers boss Dave Cooke was full of praise for his keeper afterwards.
“To be honest we’ve not played well enough today and even though we were two up at the break, I felt that we would be under the cosh in the second half and so it proved,” he said. “Greg has dealt with everything that Celtic threw at him. He’s come for crosses, made saves and shown his class to ensure we leave with all the points.”
The hosts gave debuts to Adam O’Reilly and Ethan Walker, both on loan from Preston North End, with Southport’s Paddy Lacey also starting after arriving too.
Ethon Varian had already tested home keeper Alex Fojticek before the visitors took the lead as Varian reacted quickly to poor defensive work and Joe Mwasile fired home from a tight angle.
Celtic were claiming a penalty midway through the half when Scott Bakkor looked to have been fouled in the box but referee McQuillan waved away their appeals before the visitors doubled their lead shortly afterwards.
Mwasile created space on the left for Sean Cooke who delivered a great cross for skipper James Lawrie to finish clinically from close range.
Lacey and O’Reilly both came close to halving the deficit before the break while Varian missed a chance to kill the game when free in the box on the stroke of half-time after another lapse from the home defence.
The hosts looked a different prospect after the break, Lacey twisting to fire a volley just over within minutes of the restart. Osei also fired wide from Bakkor’s pass before the wide man had a goal disallowed for a foul on keeper Hall when heading home.
The visitors were denied a third goal when Chris Smalley stopped Joel Stair’s effort during a rare attack by the Dabbers before Hall was once again doing his stuff, this time saving well from another Lacey drive.
With the game coming to a close, Hall then tipped a firm Smalley header over the bar. Then, when he was beaten, Stair came to his rescue with a goal-line clearance to ensure he kept the clean sheet his display thoroughly deserved.
Celtic’s number two Gareth Roberts remained upbeat aftewards. “There’s plenty of positives for us as a management team to take from the game and their keeper was outstanding,” he said.