Kicking downhill on a very poor and heavy pitch Frickley were put under pressure from the start by the hosts but all they had to show for their early dominance was a couple of corners and a wayward long range shot. Frickley began to weather the storm with Steve Price having a 20 yard shot blocked but disaster struck two minutes later when Andy Carney brought a Celtic player down in the box, even though he was going away from goal, and the referee immediately awarded a penalty. Thankfully Bauress put the spot kick over the bar. However, Celtic soon made amends for the miss as on 25 minutes the lively Sullivan sprinted clear of Brendan West to score past Carney from just inside the box. Sullivan almost repeated the feat three minutes later when he again got away from West but this time he sliced his shot wide. Celtic managed to increase their lead two minutes before half time with Jones being sent clear. Carney started to come out but hesitated and he was caught in no mans land as Jones stroked the ball past him into the net. Almost immediately Frickley came close to pulling a goal back. From a corner by Ian Edge, Matthew Wilkinson headed goalwards but Ingham in the Celtic goal managed to tip it against the bar. (If the goalposts weren't leaning backwards it might have crept in!)

The second half saw Carney drop a cross under pressure but he recovered brilliantly to tip over the resultant goalbound shot as Celtic looked the more likely team to add to the scoreline. In the few chances that Frickley had the players were so obviously lacking in confidence that they were reluctant to attempt a shot at goal. On one such occasion Price sent Duffty away down the left. He cut into the box but shied away from goal when twice he had opportunities to shoot, electing instead to pass to Rob Hanby on the right of the box who had a defender trailing him. On 74 minutes Frickley played their best bit of football of the game when Brown and Price combined for Edge to get over a cross from the left which Graham Lewis headed just wide of the near post. Then on 78 minutes Stalybridge sealed the win when McNeil lashed the ball into an empty net at the far post after an initial shot was blocked.

Once again the Blues struggled without a decent striker as an outlet from defence. Almost every time a clearance was made there was no-one to hold the ball up which put more pressure on the defence. Without the suspended Nicky Cranston there was also a lack of width down the right as Hanby is no right winger.

Frickley Athletic : Carney, Hilton, West (Fox 57), Jones, Matt. Wilkinson, Lewis, Price, Duffty (McAreavey 78), Edge. Unused Sub. Lafferty