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Barrow 1 Stalybridge Celtic 3

Trefor Williams
30/ 1/2008

GIVEN that Celtic wins in Cumbria are as rare as hen’s teeth and the Blues had suffered defeat the previous Tuesday, this was a mightily impressive win.

Despite never quite reaching the authoratitive heights of the previous weekend’s triumph at Kettering, Celtic nevertheless largely bossed proceedings against a side that had scored four in each of its previous four home games.

The Blues survived a couple of early scares before finding their feet though as Paddy Gamble brilliantly saved low down after Nick Rogan had sent Jason Walker clear.

Celtic went ahead in the 18th minute when stand-in home full-back Andy Bond made a hash of a simple clearance and allowed Alex Meechan to slam the ball home.

Meechan, who has been offered a full-time contract at Kettering may have been playing his last game for the Blues, but has been a fine signing by Steve Burr and will be remembered fondly.

Ten minutes later, the home side had a great chance to level when Chris Thompson was tripped in the box, only for Gamble to further atone for his midweek aberrations with a smart save from Steve McNulty’s penalty.

James Dean twice went close to increasing Celtic’s lead before the break as the visitors’ dominance grew, and they looked by far the more likely team to score as the second half wore on as Barrow’s frustration at their inability to force a breakthrough increased.

With 20 minutes left, Dean should have scored with a close-range header, but after the home defence made a real mess of clearing the ball, made up for his miss by lashing the ball into the roof of the net.

With a couple of minutes left, the excellent Matty Barlow somehow managed to spoon the ball home from the acutest of angles wide on the right to seal Celtic’s victory.

Even Chris Thompson’s late penalty failed to flatten Stalybridge’s deserved sense of elation