Southport were undone by a ten minute spell in the second half, that effectively handed the points to the visitors, with the Sandgrounders once again ruing over chances spurned in the first half.

The game started at a fast pace, with the visitors keen to put pressure on the Southport defence. Steve Torpey tried his luck from the edge of the box, but his half volley skipped across the goal and went wide. However, Southport pressed, with Tony Gray being unfortunate as the ball was delivered to him from Chris Holland, but from the tight angle, the striker fired over. Minutes later Southport took the lead as Gray played the ball through to Ollie Gray, who guided the ball into the area, striking the ball low, with Paddy Gamble unable to stop the ball going in, despite the ball hitting his leg on the way through.

Both teams saw chances cleared off the line, as Andrew Smart’s corner whipped the head of Paul Barratt, who was relieved to see Chris Holland clear the ball of the line, with Meechan firing the clearance over the bar from just inside the box. Then down at the other end, a mis-pass from Paul Sykes gave Southport a lucky break, with the resultant corner getting through to Michael Powell, with Sykes redeeming himself as his thwarted the shot off the line.

The game continued going from end-to-end, with Chris Holland seeing his chance sail over the bar from the edge of the area, followed by Paul Barratt’s volley going just over from 20 yards. Celtic forced Steve Drench to show his class, denying Ashley Woolliscroft as his goal-bound strike was well pushed away.

Just before the break, Southport had a glorious chance to increase their lead as Chris Lever placed a good ball from the left wing through to Neil Prince, who volleyed the ball over from close range.

Stalybridge pulled level eight minutes into the second half as a rare lack of concentration in the Southport defence allowed the ball get through to Ahley Winn on the edge of the box, stabbing the ball low beyond Drench. Within two minutes Celtic were ahead as James Dean whipped a ball into the box where Alex Meechan made no mistake from close range.

The afternoon went from bad to worse for Southport as a corner went through to Chris Hall, who headed the ball forward to Paul Sykes who stabbed the ball home from close.

Mark Houghton was added into the action, with his impact not taking long to notice. A ball forward released Houghton into the box, being brought down by Steve Payne. Tony Gray blasted the penalty home, despite Gamble getting a hand on the ball.

Celtic were keen to restore their two-goal advantage, having glorious chances as Chris Hall was thwarted by Drench, and Winn playing the ball into Torpey, with Drench again stopping the shot, only for Meechan to miss a clear chance at the back post as he sneaked some space in the Port box.

Southport struggled, with Celtic clearly one of the better teams to have visited Haig Avenue this season. But hopefully with a full squad to choose from next week, Southport can continue to maintain their prescence in the play-off positions, although the opposition will prove a tough test of character.