St Paul's FC | Football, London | stpaulsceltic.co.uk

Celtic outdone by top Premier side

Celtic start excellently however Nordwest prevail

A cup tie against a side three divisions above you is tough at the best of times, as welcome a challenge as it may be. However the challenge for St Paul's Celtic was made all the tougher last night, having to take to the field with an injury and absence ravaged side. A makeshift back four, with only one regular defender making the starting line-up, lined up behind an equally makeshift midfield after Michael Jamieson, who has been in excellent form in the past two matches, pulled up in the pre-match warm-up.

Nordwest are long serving members of the Islington Midweek League and this season is their third in the Premier Division, so there was no doubt that they'd prove a formidable opponent for St Paul's Celtic. However, completely out of character, Celtic started brightly and the makeshift central defensive pairing of McGuckin and Kennedy, along with MacCann and McBride in the full back positions, were dealing well with everything thrown at them and proving a base on which to stage counter attacks.

Communication was much better along the backline allowing them to defend as a unit and give confidence to the midfield to concentrate on supporting the attack. The Nordwest strike pairing were quick and skilful, but despite the talent in their midfield they resorted to long balls over the top that were shepherded easily by the Celtic defence. The game was flowing end to end and St Paul's were starting to look fairly comfortable, knocking the ball around and putting pressure on Nordwest, pinning them back inside their own half.

Superb strike give Celtic the lead

Celtic won the first corner of the evening and the delivery from Molloy was headed clear, but only as far as McCann. His quick pass found Bray lurking outside the area, with the Australian midfielder unleashing a wonderful strike from fully twenty five yards that flew into the Nordwest 'keeper's bottom right hand corner. The goal shocked Nordwest and they started to come alive more in midfield, and with their entire back four comfortable on the ball they were able to stretch Celtic.

Their pressure paid off soon after and it was a familiar error that allowed them to equalise. The initial corner was easily dealt with however the ball broke to their right winger who was allowed the time and space to pick his cross and find the Nordwest striker, Kennedy the culprit allowing him to get away from him for a free header. It was a huge error from the Celtic man and sparked a new lease of life into Nordwest.

Celtic hit back

The Premier Division side gained in confidence but St Paul's stayed the course, continuing to attack and staying strong at the back, and they soon went ahead again. A free kick was awarded 30 yards from goal for a foul on Smith and Allen stepped up to the plate. His powerful goal-bound effort was deflected off the back of a Nordwest defender and into the opposite side of the goal, wrong-footing the beaten 'keeper. The movement of Coull, Allen, Molloy and Smith was causing Nordwest problems, particularly the pace of Smith and Allen, yet the Nordwest defence stood firm and kept the London Hoops at bay.

Again the game was swinging from end to end and before long the scoreline was level. A surging attack from Nordwest involving almost all of their midfield and attack culminated in a shot form the edge of the area striking the arm of McBride who was closing the shot down. It was a harsh decision as the ball was going well over, but the Nordwest forward duly stepped up and picked his spot to bring things back to 2-2. With the scorline level St Paul's had their best chance of the game to again go ahead.

Chances go begging

A lovely move down the left released Coull and his inch perfect cross found Allen. The striker took the ball well and coolly delayed his shot, but with the 'keeper beaten he blasted over. Molloy had to leave the field after a heavy 50/50 challenge, replaced by Martin O'Neill, and the youngster almost got on the score sheet straight away. A good move down the right from Allen and Smith saw the former drill a cross into O'Neill's feet. The winger turned beautifully and his left footed shot was just palmed away by the 'keeper and collected at the second attempt.

Nordwest took the lead shortly before halftime. A throw-in was wrongly awarded to Nordwest when it was clearly a St Paul's throw, and the ball fell to the two strikers on the edge of the area who almost got in each other's way before a cry of 'leave it' saw the big striker complete his hat-trick.

Big hearts needed for second 45 minutes

The second half was always going to be difficult for St Paul's, with players playing out of position and positional discipline on the wane Nordwest started taking control of the game. The referee continued to add the challenge St Paul's faced with some strange decisions, and Kennedy went into the book for dissent after a bizarre advantage call from the man in black. Nordwest were getting most of their success down their left flank where their left back was getting more and more time on the ball and McBride was often left exposed and overrun with no defensive help from the midfield.

The Celtic backline continued to deal well with the Nordwest attacks however, and still managed to get on the ball in the final third. Their 'keeper was untroubled though and before long they went 4-2 up. A long ball was initially dealt with by Kennedy, but the Nordwest striker got the break of the ball and crossed to the back post where two players lay in queue to shoot, the left full-back putting the finishing touch on the move with a volley high into the net. St Paul's were tiring now and heads had dropped, so a fifth goal for Nordwest was inevitable.

Fifth goal seals the game

Another long ball over the top down the right hand side caught McBride flat-footed and the striker ran through to finish past Hamilton in the Celtic goal. Despite the scoreline St Paul's gave a good account of themselves, particularly having had to deal with the decemation of the squad. The back four communicated well, and despite a couple of individual errors, dealth well with a skillful and quick attack. The midfield lost it's shape at times but hassled their opposite numbers well, often reducing them to long balls for the strikers to chase, and the attackers worked hard without much by the way of service to feed off.

Coull again won pretty much everything in the air and was involved in the best move of the game to set Allen free, and the movement and pace of Smith and Allen caused the Nordwest defence problems for the entire 90 minutes.

Back to league duty for the rest of the season, with AWDF Reds next up in two weeks with hopefully a full squad to choose from and the return from injury of more key players.

St Paul's Celtic (4-4-2): Hamilton; McBride, Kennedy, McGuckin, MacCann; Smith, Rogan, Bray, Molloy (O'Neill '30); Coull, Allen