Cleator Moor Celtic were beaten 2-1 in their North West Counties Division One North clash at Atherton LR.
But it was another decent effort after Saturday’s very good 3-0 win at Nelson which got them off the mark for the season.
Lewis Rawthorn had put the home side in front on 25 minutes but it was rather against the run of play when the same player added a second after 73 minutes.
Luke Ivison pulled one back after 90 minutes but it was too late to affect the result.
Brian Dawson, the Celtic manager said: “Without several regular players the lads put in a gutsy performance against a decent side. We contained them well in the first half but they went ahead with a well-taken goal.
“In the second-half we grew into the game and started causing them problems only to get hit with a sucker punch against the run of play.
“Credit to the lads again, they showed resilience to dig deep and got back into it with a well-taken Luke Ivison free kick but ultimately that came too late in the game for us to salvage a point.
“A much improved last two games have given us the belief to kick on now starting with Garstang at home on Saturday.”
