A hat-trick from man-of-the-match Oliver Slater inspired Celtic to a deserved win over West End Athletic.
Ollie hit his first after four minutes, but the rest of the first half was fairly even as a very organised West End gave very little away.
However, 5 minutes before the break, Ollie nipped in for his second which was a bit harsh on the hosts, but West End pulled one back almost straight away when Carl Pain, who was booked, upended the West End forward in the box. The penalty sent Ben Gorman the wrong way to make the score line Athletic 1, Celtic 2 at half-time with West End buoyant and looking capable of causing an upset.
The first 15 minutes of the second half was one-way traffic, as Trawden got their act together and scored three times!
First Phil Shaw, sneaked in at the far post to make it 3-1, then Ollie Slater headed his third and Trawden’s fourth, before Phil Shaw was fouled by the West End keeper and Callum Whitfield coolly hit the fifth from the resulting penalty. Richard Dixon nearly made it six, but his shot from just inside the box was well saved by the West End ‘keeper.
This seemed to knock the stuffing out of Athletic, who looked a different side from their first-half performance.
They did pull a goal back with a great run and strike from No. 8 with 15 minutes to go, but Trawden saw the game out without any further scares.
A good performance all round was capped by a fine display in the centre of defence by new signing Chris Dodd, and Thomas Farthing who moved to left-back.
Spencer Jordan and Liam Britton ran the midfield as usual, and Iain Ross, ran his heart out on the right wing despite some clinical challenges from his markers.
Credit to West End, the only team so far this season to leave Trawden Rec with any points, in my opinion, are the best organised team in the league.
Trawden are now 2 points behind the new leaders Brunlea Juniors, with a game in hand.
Man-of-the-Match was Oliver Slater
