UNDER 10s REACH FOURTH CUP FINAL IN FOUR SEASONS

Celtic under 10's booked their place in the East Manchester First Division Cup Final in May with a 6-3 aggregate defeat of Stockport Junior Blues and in doing so reached their fourth cup final in four successive seasons.

In a competition where the aggregates of the 'A' and 'B' team results decide the winners, the tie was effectively over after the first half of the first game as the 'B' team established a 5-0 lead in a sensational display. Truly dominant throughout, they picked off their opponents and finished their chances in fine style, with two goals from Elliot and one each for Tom, Bomber and man of the match, Kai. The football on display was a real joy to watch as the lads made it one defeat in 11 games since their 5-1 defeat at the hands of yesterday's opponents.

Unsurprisingly, Stockport came out fired up for the second half, but as Celtic changed things round a bit, they more than maintained their grip on the game with Travis going close to scoring his first goal for the club in almost four years of trying! Once again, James, Lewis and Sid provided the solid foundation for the attacking players to produce and it was just wonderful to watch. Well done lads.

FINAL SCORE: CELTIC 5 STOCKPORT JUNIOR BLUES 0


In contrast, the 'A' team, despite pre-match warnings, again failed to find any sort of tempo or rhythm to their game and played as if the tie was over. Following four successive victories that had yielded 17 goals,  Bridge were not short on confidence and they had the early opportunities with Max outpacing his marker but just poking his shot wide.

After a goalless first half, a defensive mistake allowed Stockport to take the lead and that lead was doubled with about 8 minutes to go. Macca buried a close range header from Brad's corner to halve the deficit and Celtic looked like they might salvage a draw. But, as Stockport pushed more and more men forward, they scored a third themselves in the dying seconds from a corner after Luke had made a good initial block. Brad took the man of the match honours for his non-stop display, but overall it was a disappointing result and more importantly a second disappointing performance in successive weeks. However, the lads are still through to another cup final at the home of Hyde United and can now concentrate their efforts in the race for the league title.

FINAL SCORE: CELTIC 1 STOCKPORT JUNIOR BLUES 3

Training: Thursday. Meet 5.50pm

Next Match v Stockport Junior Blues again, this time in the league. Meet 8.15am