Lowland League | Share of the spoils against Celtic B

Posted on Saturday, July 30th, 2022

A sublime free-kick from Cammy Russell and a neat strike from substitute Sean Brown saw Spartans share the spoils in the sunshine with a 2-2 draw against Celtic B at Ainslie Park.

Spartans started off on the ascendency and there was an early half chance for Cammy Russell who latched on to the ball after fine industrious play in midfield by Jamie Dishington. Unfortunately for Russell, he could only direct his effort over the bar.

Neither keeper was overly troubled in the early exchanges as Celtic started to enjoy the bulk of possession, working a high line, denying the hosts any opportunity of a counter attack.

Spartans did get on the move though and a Jamie Dishington corner deep into the box saw a bit of a stramash in the goalmouth before it was hoofed to safety by the Hoops defence.

Mikey Allan stopped a Celtic attack with a well timed tackle however it was the visitors who finally broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when a move was tapped in from close range by Bosin Lawal.

Before play could resume, Kevin Waugh had treatment and was subsequently replaced by Harvey Swann.

Celtic were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box after Mikey Allan was adjudged to brought down his man however the effort was high and wide without troubling Blair Carswell.

It was another incident involving Mikey Allan that had the fans chatting over their half time bovril when his powerful header was cleared off the line with an enthusiastic claim that it has crossed however the officials saw it differently.

The chat at the interval could have been a different one had the rebounded effort following Celtic hitting the post not have been remarkably saved by Blair Carswell and it was a slender Celtic lead that separated the sides at the break.

HT: The Spartans 0-1 Celtic B

Spartans started off the liveliest after the break and won a free kick 25 yards out and up stepped Cammy Russell. With pin-point accuracy, the dead-ball specialist lifted the ball over the wall and beyond Tobi Oluwayemi into the postage stamp.

A double substitution followed with Sam Jones and Calum Burns replacing Ian McFarland and Michael Herd.

Another free-kick in the Celtic danger area for Spartans followed some serious shirt tugging in the middle of the park with the second transgression forcing the man in the middle to finally blow.

Celtic regained the lead with a quarter of an hour left on the clock after Johnny Kenny sent a low strike beyond Blair Carswell into the net.

Then, with nine minutes left on the clock, Cammy Russell went on the rampage through the Celtic defence and his cross to the front post was diverted home by super sub Sean Brown to make it level-pegging.

Both sides were keen to press for a winner in the final stages however it wasn’t to be and the sides were locked at 2-2 as Referee George Calder brought a highly entertaining encounter to a close.

FT: The Spartans 2-2 Celtic B