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Saturday 30th September - Stalybridge Celtic 1-1 Frickley Athletic

A terrific 73rd minute strike from Rob Pell earned the Blues a replay in today's FA Cup, sponsored by E.On, 2nd Qualifying Round tie at Conference North side Stalybridge Celtic. Showing renewed spirit and determination the Blues battled back after conceding a 24th minute goal to a Lee Ellington header following a corner.

Caretaker Managers Simon Collins and Shaun Selby were boosted by the return of Gary Ingham and Adam Pollock after both missed Tuesday evening's game through illness. 

The Blues started the game positively with Alex Callery bursting into the Celtic box but Mark Hume's excellent tackle prevented him from getting a shot in. Lee Ellington turned on the edge of the box and fired in a shot which came back off the crossbar minutes later before Richard Tracey hit the side netting with an angled shot from 20 yards. Gary Ingham then comfortably saved a low 18 yarder from Steve Brodie before Celtic took the lead on 24 minutes with Ellington heading in a corner at the back post with Ingham managing to get to the ball but not being able to prevent the ball going in. Almost immediately the Blues Rob Pell put an angled shot over the bar from 6 yards but it was end to end stuff as Lee Stratford headed James Turley's header off the line following a cross from the left. Callery went close just before half time as Mark Ward picked out his run to the edge of the Celtic box but his shot was well saved by Paul Pettinger.

Almost straight after half time Brodie went close again for Celtic but his angled shot from 6 yards flew across the face of goal. Just after the hour Callery broke from midfield before feeding Ward on the right and he hit a first time shot from 25 yards which Pettinger did well to turn over the bar. The Blues scored a deserved equaliser on 73 minutes due largely to the determination of Dean Jones who won the ball on the edge of his own box before bringing it out and finding Pell on the left. Jones continued his run to pull a Celtic defender away from Pell as he reached the Celtic box, allowing Pell to cut in from the left and unleash a powerful shot which dipped just under the crossbar from 25 yards. Celtic did have the ball in the net minutes later but this was ruled out for offside whilst five minutes from time Ingham pulled off a great save to push an 18 yard shot from Ellington over the bar after the Blues had lost possession on the edge of their own box.

The Blues now face Celtic again at the GMB Stadium on Tuesday night, k.o. 7.45pm