Droylsden 2-1 Farsley Celtic

By James Grayson

45 days after the game should have originally been played Celtic finally played their Setanta Shield game against Droylsden. But having looked to be cruising to victory, an injury to Tom Morgan changed the whole game.

New signing Rory Prendergast was handed his debut by John Deacey and took his cherished left winger position. Prendergast previously played Wakefield, Frickley and Bradford (Park Avenue) before joining Accrington Stanley and at Accrington he played a pivotal role in their journey up the football pyramid. He then moved onto Blackpool and Rochdale.

Prendergast had made his presence felt throughout the first twenty minutes and on 22 minutes the ‘wing wizard’ set-up Celtic’s goal. His corner came into the box and stand-in captain Mark JACKSON beat his marker and volleyed home from 16 yards.

Prendergast’s performance was allowing other players to get forward and as a result it was nearly 2-0 on 29 minutes. Scott McNiven was able to push forward and he made to it to the touchline before his cross was blocked. The ball then fell for James Knowles but his shot was blocked aswell.

Prendergast went on another of his sizzling runs towards the Droylsden penalty area on 31 minutes. But this time it was cut untimely short by a deliberate handball by Liam Murray. Murray was then deservedly yellow carded.

HT 0-1

Celtic started the second-half looking for a second goal and Prendergast was involved again in a big chance on 53 minutes. He crossed into the box but Steve Torpey was unable to connect and the chance went begging.

That chance signalled a change in Celtic’s fortunes and Droylsden went down the other end to try and grab an equaliser. Firstly Conall Murtagh’s free kick was tipped over the crossbar by Morgan. But then disaster struck from the resulting corner. Morgan pushed Murray’s header onto the bar but went down injured with his shoulder. The game was delayed for a number of minutes and since there was no keeper on the bench, McNiven had to take the gloves. McNiven previously played between the sticks in a pre-season friendly at North Ferriby.

Despite the change in goalkeepers Celtic nearly grabbed a second goal on 62 minutes. Prendergast crossed low again and this time Tuck connected but despite beating Paul Phillips the ball went wide.