Cleator Moor Celtic were on the wrong end of a seven goal thriller in their North West Counties clash at Ilkley Town.
They had led 2-1, trailed 3-2 at half-time, drew level and got on top and were then undone by a breakaway goal.
Manager Brian Dawson said: “It was a real game of two halves. We gave them too much respect in the first half, didn’t get close enough to them, weren’t physical enough and in truth they played us off the park for 45 minutes.
“That being said we still looked dangerous ourselves going forward and at 2-2 in the first half we were harshly treated by a linesman who disallowed a perfectly good goal by James Bell.
“After some stern words at half-time we went out in the second half, got in their faces a bit and bossed the game.
“We got the equaliser and were probably looking the most likely to go and win the game. We hit the bar and the post and then against the run of play they grabbed the winner with a worldie free kick with 10 minutes left.
“It was a tough one to take against a very good side and we again showed the progress we are making.”
Alfie Dean had put Ilkley in front after only seven minutes but two goals in two minutes from Leon Dmytrowski (10) and Connor Hammill (12) gave Celtic the advantage.
Ilkley levelled through Tom Smith on 22 and after Bell had been denied a third goal for Celtic, Smith grabbed his second five minutes before the break.
A rejuvenated Celtic restored parity on the hour through Ryley Short and were looking good when they lost out to a superb free kick from Dean in the 80th minute.
That win kept Ilkley firmly in the play-off picture, currently lying fourth while Celtic are stuck at the bottom with the toughest fixture possible next Saturday – a home game with leaders Pilkington.
