The UNITS were edged in a 10 goal humdinger this morning at the Thorns Leisure Centre
Celtic have been struggling for a side the majority of this season but surprise surprise they had 16 there this morning as the UNITS were the visitors, we were aware the big texts had gone out rounding them up so their recent poor form was not to be taken into consideration
Ross had to work again and Jonah still hadn't recovered from the knock he picked up last week so we lined up as follows
Mala, Chinner, Lacey, Darbs, Kirby, Coco, Jim, Taylor, Baker, Marcus and Pountney - Subs were Eggy, Penna, Matt Powell,Barney and for the first time this season Matt Hall made the 16
The first 10 minutes were competitive but the UNITS were edging it and took the lead shortly after, good work by Taylor in the middle of the park released Jim who whipped in a cross which sailed over the keepers head and into the far corner to put us 1-0 up
Disappointingly Celtic were level less than 5 minutes later when from a long throw into the box Lacey inadvertently helped the ball on and their wide man got in front of Chinner to volley home from 6 yards, sloppy play
5 minutes later and against the run of play Celtic took the lead from an almost identical situation, this time the guy at the far stick was unmarked as the throw was helped on and he made no mistake from 6 yards
Credit to the UNITS as the remaining 25 minutes of the half was constant one way traffic and as slick as we've been for a good few weeks, after a beautifully flighted ball from Taylor in behind Pountney slammed the ball into the top corner from 15 yards to level up at 2-2, we then took the lead 5 minutes later when from a half cleared corner Darbs floated a cross to the far post where Pountney cut inside his man and made no mistake from 7 yards to puts us 3-2 up
The Celtic keeper then pulled off a great save to keep out a 25 yarder from Baker destined for the bottom corner, Coco then was in an identical place from where Pountney had put us in front but could only shoot against the keeper and on the stroke of half time good work from Marcus played in Pountney who was denied by the keeper when clean through when he really should have scored
Half time Celtic 2 v 3 TS UNITS
It was a real curates egg of a first half as there were so many positives, especially Taylor, Chinner, Jim, Lewis, Kirbs, Baker who were back to their best yet we found ourselves only a goal up due to sloppy marking from two long throws
We remained unchanged and 15 minutes into the 2nd half there was looking only one winner as Celtic had created nothing and again we went close with Pountney dragging a shot wide, Coco shooting wide and Darbs heading over as the pattern of the 1st half continued.
On the hour mark Pountney was played in behind the Celtic defence and was clipped from behind when about to shoot, looked a clear penalty to most yet the referee claimed the defender won the ball which he was nowhere near, as is the way 5 minutes later from ANOTHER Celtic throw this time Darbs did his job and headed clear only for their midfielder to be in acres of space 25 yards out as our midfield went to sleep and he thundered a shot into the top corner with Mala doing well to get a hand to it but failing to keep it out
The UNITS restored parity only 5 minutes later when from a free kick Darbs was barged in the back when heading for goal and Pountney made no mistake from the spot to put us 4-3 up
It should have been a case of the UNITS killing the game from here yet our ability to shoot ourselves in the foot reached new heights when after numerous attempts to clear a harmless ball went begging Darbs gave away a soft free kick 25 yards out and their midfielder scuffed his shot under the wall and Mala could only help it into the corner of the net 4-4!
The UNITS destructed in the last 15 minutes to gift Celtic the game, this time Chinner let a cross field ball bounce in front of him and as he tried to head it back to Mala the Celtic player nipped in front and finished well past Mala to put Celtic in the lead when they should have been dead and buried
Our opposition must have thought Christmas had come early when after poor play between Jim and Lacey the latter failed to clear his lines only gifting the ball to the Celtic midfielder who played a good ball into their striker who got away from the centre halves too easily and finished easily past Mala to put Celtic 6-4 in front
The UNITS were shell shocked but threw men forward and substitute Powell headed home from close range to set up a grandstand finish only for the referee to disallow the goal over a dubious flag from the Celtic sub running the line
It's not every fixture that every mistake you make gets punished but it was one of those cases today, Celtic had 6 attempts on goal of any note and scored the lot where as we missed a host of chances, especially when the game was there to be killed off just before and after half time and didn't take them
Football's a cruel game at times and we certainly didn't deserve nothing from the game today but so many lessons for us to learn today, especially some individuals getting key decisions wrong in danger areas of the pitch and we need to put this one to bed quickly with some very tough fixtures coming up, starting with Kewford next Sunday
Man of the match was Lewis who grabbed a hat-trick, should have had 6 and was a constant menace to the Celtic back line all game
