Celtic B 7
University of Stirling 0
The University of Stirling have ended the year with a disappointing loss away from home as Celtic B fired seven goals past the visitors.
The home side opened the scoring after 10 minutes as they managed to chip away at the uni defence to send a cross into the box as Samuel Isiguzo slid the ball past Bobby Fasano Barton.
Seven minutes later, the referee pointed to the spot as Celtic were awarded a penalty.
Daniel Cummings stepped up to the mark and made it two for Celtic as he fired the ball into the bottom left corner, with Barton going the right way but narrowly missing it.
Celtic continued to threaten the students as they beat the defence yet again but fired the ball into the side netting.
Celtic secured the third in the 20th minute as Jude Bonnar got the ball into the back of the net from a tight angle, the uni struggling to create any chances and get into the game.
Barton made an excellent to save to stop Celtic getting another as a shot was taken from distance.
Barton was called into action again as a powerful shot was sent towards the goal face, but he knocked it away.
With five minutes until the half-time whistle, the students looked like they had their first proper chance of the evening but Finn Moffett couldn’t get the ball out of his feet after a one-to-one with the keeper.
Coming out in the second half, it was a great effort from the uni in the opening five minutes, but it was Celtic who got another goal as Sean McArdle slid the ball under the arm of Barton to make it 4-0.
The students did have a chance in the 55th minute as Lewis Blane went up to header the ball towards goal but went down with a head knock, after some medical assistance he was ok to carry on.
Approaching the hour mark, substitution Liam Trotter had a go at goal from distance, but Celtic keeper, Joe Morrison, managed to make the save as the uni couldn’t find the goal they were desperately hoping for.
On the hour Celtic made it 5-0 after getting plenty of space in the box, allowing Kyle Ure to get the ball away.
The goals kept coming for the green-and-whites, as it only took three minutes and some slack defending for Isiguzo to get his second of the evening as Celtic totalled their scoring tally to six with more than 20 minutes left to play.
The uni was not giving up and some excellent link up play allowed Jack Hodge to lay the ball off to Sam Martin in the box, but he sent it wide.
Hodge sent another shot wide minutes later, as the students couldn’t get anything from this game.
76 minutes passed and Celtic made it seven as Lewis Dobbie slid it into the back of the net as the uni finally started to look defeated.
Head Coach, Chris Geddes, said after the game: “Everyone is disappointed, you never want to lose a game like that but some of the defending wasn’t ideal, we were naïve at times and played into their hands.
“We weren’t clinical when we had the chances and opportunities and they were clinical, they played pretty well, and it was hard for us.
“We are under strength and missing some key players but still it was pretty disappointing.
“We have got a two week break now so the boys can have a breather, and then we play them again and hopefully we can put in a better performance.”
The University of Stirling head into the winter break 10th in the Lowland League table.
They return to action on Saturday 5 January, welcoming Celtic B to Forthbank Stadium.
Featured imag credit: Gary Caldwell