Cleator Moor Celtic suffered a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Hurst Green in their West Lancashire League fixture.
It was a very scrappy game but the visitors had started the better of the two teams and for the first 15 minutes Celtic just didn’t get going.
Their first serious threat created a chance for Adam Smith, played in by a brilliant pass from Zach Benson-Lester but he shot straight at the keeper.
Celtic then stayed on top for the remainder of the half and they had the perfect opportunity to go in front when awarded a penalty after a foul on Ellis Trotter.
Unfortunately Smith, who took on spot kick duties, fired over the bar.
There were still a couple more chances before the break but they couldn’t convert.
Celtic started the second-half positively but couldn’t finish off a couple more good chances.
They were then caught asleep from a Hurst Green clearance on 70m minutes which saw the winger Will Nichols get in behind the home defence and fire through the legs of keeper Scott Paden-Gale for what proved to be the winner.
Celtic did fire everything they could at the visitors in the closing stages but couldn’t make the breakthrough.
Afterwards manager Stuart Shaw said: “It was a frustrating game as we created endless amounts of chances and at times played some great football.
“Credit to Hurst Green, however, who were on the back of a 7-0 thumping the previous week and they looked up for it more than our lads.
“That was disappointing as I want my players to battle for everything for every single minute of a match.
“If the penalty had gone in it could have swung in our favour, but we had a lot of chances after that to put it right.
“We need to be more clinical in front of goal but I’d be more disappointed if we weren’t creating the chances.
“On Saturday we travel to Fulwood Amateurs who are in good form so we need to be at it from the first whistle.”
- West Cumbrian neighbours Whitehaven produced an excellent performance to draw 0-0 at home to title favourites CMB. Until Saturday CMB had dropped only three points from 13 games, winning the other 12.
