Under 9s Go Joint Top

Celtic under 9s went joint top of the East Manchester JFL First Division, but missed the chance to go clear after winning and losing against Delamere Rangers on Saturday at Wright Robinson School.

Unbelievably, the 'B' team lost 4-2, as Delamere scored every time they ventured in to Stalybridge's half of the field, but how different it could have been with a little bit of luck. Bridge dominated the first fifteen minutes, with Jack hitting the post and Keenan going close twice, once denied by a fantastic save, that could have put the game to bed.  They took the lead when Keenan skipped past his marker and crossed for Jack fired home with his left foot.  However, when Delamere won a corner with their first attack a quarter of an hour in, a good glancing header made it 1-1 and that's how it stayed until the break.

A second corner early in the second half and a second glancing header yielded another goal for Delamere, whilst a break away made it 3-1 soon after.  However, the lads responded well, creating several chances before Nathan scored his first goal of the season with a sweet left foot strike.  Celtic piled on the pressure and only a superb save denied them an equaliser.

With two minutes left and Bridge pressing, Delamere broke and all credit must go to their scorer who held off 3 defenders to slot the ball home for a fantastic goal.  How the lads lost we'll never know as they controlled possession throughout the game, but they were just not clinical enough once again in front of goal.  Shooting practice on Thursday!  Man of the match went to Jack who provided most of the quality on show.

FINAL SCORE: CELTIC  2  DELAMERE RANGERS  4

In contrast, the 'A' team completely dominated from start to finish, managing to find the net 5 times without reply. Iindeed, Luke in goal wasn't called upon to make a single save.

Thomas got the scoring underway, finishing well following a cross from Kai, and Brad made it 2-0 soon after, his 10th of the season.  Two goals from Max follwed, both sensational solo runs, racing past defenders with ease before coolly the ball past the keeper. Those two strikes took his tally for the season to 16 and he could have added many more as he waltzed past the opposition with ease.  Brad drilled in a fifth before half time to complete a superb 20 minutes of football.

After the break and following some positional changes, Celtic failed to find the net again, but hit the woodwork, had shots cleared off the line and were denied by the keeper on several occassions as the game was played almost exclusively in Delamere's half.  On this form, there's no team that can live with them.  Brad picked up the man of the match award, but there were also excellent performaces from Max and Dan who ran him close.

FINAL SCORE: CELTIC  5  DELAMERE RANGERS  0 

Its going to be a close run-in with a number of teams vying for the league title, so with 7 games to go the lads really need to make sure they're on top form from now until May.

Training: Thursday at Curzon. Meet 5.50pm

Next match v Stockport Junior Blues(only 1 point behind us). Meet 8.45am