On a weekend with no 1st team fixture and the reserves game off through wet weather the A team gave the club something to cheer. On a really wet Saturday the 4G at the Hans Price Academy really comes into its own and played its part in a really good game of football. Referees’ never get enough credit so Mark Sprague deserves a mention in getting two difficult penalty decisions right whilst controlling the game perfectly.
Celtics are sitting comfortably in mid table with a big strong defence and quick, skilful forwards such as Jack Jones and Chris Clarke up front. Rob Garrett wins a lot of ball in midfield and gets his head to most things. It was therefore quite a task for the new managerial set up at Wrington As where Kev Lillwall has joined the team to get a much needed result.
Bolstered by Sam Fowkes and Tom Lucas back from the reserves, Wrington started brightly and tried to play football with Kev Lillwall pulling the strings from midfield. However, Celtics kept finding space behind the fullbacks It took good covering by the new centre back partnership and also some good saves by Jerome Dindian to keep the Celtics at bay. At the other end, the fit again Kyle Selman terrorised the Celtics defence and produced a string of quality crosses.
However, the home side took the lead when Garrett again released Jones down the right and his weaving run and shot opened the scoring. The visitors responded with Paul Faulkner holding the ball up well to bring Dan McMullen and Neil Lewis into the game. It was Lewis’s pressure on the defence which released McMullen to expertly chip the on rushing keeper to level the scores.
As half time approached, a Wrington throw saw McMullen skip in front of his defender only to be tripped for a correct if ‘soft’ penalty as there was no apparent danger. However, there was no doubt with regard to the finish which rifled into the top corner to give McMullen his second.
The second half carried on in the same vein but with Celtics now playing with the wind and looking the stronger. Wrington used all their three subs who all worked hard to wrestle back the initiative. Wrington started to look quite comfortable so it was slightly against the run of play when from a corner Steve James collected the rebound and was brought down just inside the box for a penalty. Again, a perfect penalty gave Jack Jones his second to level the score. Wrington now looked tired but a long hopeful ball saw Faulkner beat three defenders to the ball. His lay off fell to the supporting Lewis whose shot flew over the keeper.
Wrington were now holding on and showed all their character to see out a moral boosting win. It was impossible to award a man of the match award as this was a real team performance and all 14 players deserve all the credit.