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

2 goal Celtic maintain perfect start to season

Celtic contiinue their good form with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Bang

Having watched Celtic huff and puff and ultimately fail in Israel before taking to the field last night, St Paul's Celtic could have been forgiven for a deflated performance against a side who had put five goals past Holloway Galaxy the week before. However goals from Coull and Molloy sealed a well deserved victory that maintained their 100% start to the season (and unbeaten record since the club was formed) and meant that at least one side in green and white hoops could be proud of their performance.

Team changes

The team had a different look to the one that started against AWDF with four changes to the starting line-up, and for the second game in a row St Paul's started cagily, the early play reduced to long balls with both sides reluctant to get the ball down and play. Bang's strength was in their central midfield and their big target man, who was giving Celtic problems at the back with his strength in the air and ability to hold the ball up and bring players into the game. However it was St Paul's who settled quicker and the attacking quartet of Coull, Rogan, Molloy and Wiechoreki started to pose problems for the Bang defence. The first real chance fell to Coull after some excellent play down the right between Tkaczyk and Molloy.

A neat one-two sent Molloy racing to the touchline and his driven cross found Coull who couldn't get the ball from out of his feet as his shot was saved by the 'keeper. Rogan then went close, a low shot skipping past the far post as the Bang 'keeper stumbled to get down to it. Bang had chances of their own as their centre forward started to impose himself on the game. A flicked header sent the Bang right-winger through on goal but Hamilton saved superbly, making himself huge to deny Bang the opening goal. The game became a bit scrappy for a period before St Paul's started to up their game and the final 20 minutes of the first period was all played in Bang's half of the pitch. Coull, Rogan and Molloy all went close and the half time whistle was unwelcome as St Paul's had looked like scoring at any minute.

Perfect re-start

The second half started as the first had ended as again for the second game on the bounce St Paul's came out with all guns blazing. The first goal was fit to grace any pitch, a throw from Tkaczyk was controlled superbly by Rogan and returned to the full-back. Tkaczyk's cross was inch-perfect and beautifully weighted, and the header from Coull was powered into the top corner of the net to put Celtic one up. The goal was long overdue and immediately settle St Paul's. The midfield of Majid and Kennedy started to get a grip on the game and Wiechoreki and Molloy on the wings were causing real problems for Bang. The defensive partnership of Beelders and captain McGinley was starting to click and reduced Bang to paltry tit-bits 20 yards from Hamilton's goal.

McGuckin and Tkazcyk, who had both been excellent, were also getting forward and linking with the midfield and attack and Coull and Rogan were both creating chances for themselves and others. Lacey replaced Majid on the 60 minute mark and captain McGinley had to leave the field through injury shortly after to be replaced by Wilson, but the substitutions didn't slow the St Paul's advance as Molloy went close, latching on to a Kennedy through ball. Lacey was booked before even touching the ball for a cynical shirt tug on the Bang number 9 but Hamilton was rarely troubled in the second 45, Celtic's defence dealing with everything comfortably.

Exquisite strike

While Coull's opener was fit to grace any stage, Molloy's strike was exquisite. Consecutive corners were won by St Paul's, the second of which was taken by Molloy himself. A long in-swinger to the back post was cleared back out to him and taking a touch he steadied himself just inside the Bang penalty area, before unleashing a ferocious strike that bulged the net at the far post sending the St Paul's players into raptures. Molloy's recurring calf injury forced him off and he was replaced by Butt as Celtic went 4-4-2. More chances would come, falling to Rogan and Wiechoreki but the closing minutes were played out at a much slower pace.

The final whistle came early while Kennedy was on the roof of the neighbouring warehouse retrieving a Lacey clearance, and the consensus from both teams was that had the game continued to it's natural conclusion the victory margin would have been far wider.

Deserving

Another well deserved but hard fought win. The problems we faced in the game were all self-inflicted, but again once we settled the opposition were powerless to stop us. One thing that showed and that was how much fitter than them we were, we could have played for another hour comfortably and had the ref not blown the whistle when he did we would have scored at least another goal. The most positive thing in both games though has been the amount of chances we created, it doesn't matter at this stage that we aren't taking all of them but at some stage we're going to absolutely hammer someone and that will be a real confidence boost. A good display last night from everyone but again we're nowhere near our best, let's try and lift it another level for the game against MTV next week when we'll have no less than six players missing from the squad.

Man of the match this week was Carl Rogan. His touch was first class from start to finish and although he was playing an advanced role he was always on hand to help out on the defensive side of things. All that was missing from his performance was a goal and he was unlucky not to get on the score sheet for the second game in a row.