Trawden Celtic overcame Colne Clarets in this local derby at Swinden Playing Fields.
Although they were playing at home, Colne could only muster 10 men, so they were up against it from the off.
Celtic manager Dave Whitfield, brought Calvin Anslow into defence to play alongside Colne old-boy Chris Dodd, and switched captain Callum Whitfield to striker, with Ollie Slater moving to the right-wing.
After only five minutes, the Clarets were the first to threaten. Their striker burst through the Celtic defence and found himself one-on-one with ‘keeper Ben Gorman, but Ben stood firm and Colne missed the opportunity.
That was a wake-up call for Celtic and they went ahead on 15 minutes. A pass from Spencer Jordan found Ollie Slater and he put in a great cross and found Phil Shaw at the far post who headed the ball into the corner of the net. Ten minutes later it was 2-0. A great through ball by Liam Britton found Callum Whitfield who had timed his run perfectly, and he slotted the ball past the Clarets’ keeper.
Minutes later Callum scored his second. His shot from a tight angle went in off the keeper to make the score 3-0. Celtic made some changes to rotate the squad and with no further goals, the half-time score was Trawden 3, Colne 0.
For the first ten minutes of the second half, Colne tried to make a fight of it. With the wind behind them they tore into Celtic and were unlucky when they hit the bar. However, they pulled one back after a great run and cross by Jamie Holmes was put away by Phil Berry. Ben Gorman tried to keep the ball out, but it had already crossed the line.
Celtic’s reply was emphatic. Manager Dave Whitfield reverted to his starting eleven and they began to take control. Ollie Slater made it 4-1 with a great finish from the edge of the box, then two similar goals after beating the Clarets’ offside trap were scored firstly by Callum Whitfield, completing his hat-trick, and then by right back Carl Pain.
Man-of-the-Match Spencer Jordan completed Celtic’s scoring spree with a cool lob over the keeper to make it 7-1.
Five minutes from time, a great sliding challenge by Calvin Anslow on Celtic old-boy Simon Lewis prevented Colne from grabbing a second, but the referee gave a penalty for hand ball. It was a harsh decision, but Clarets’ striker Sean Birtwistle put the spot kick into the bottom corner to make the final score Clarets 2, Celtic 7.
Man-of-the-Match - Spencer Jordan
