Stalybridge Celtic v Nantwich Town

Bonus "STS" picture - Craig Hobson having a crack ...

It was good to get back to normal ... i.e. Saturday afternoon = football ! Saturday was not too bad work-wise (basically a load of of the mechanized mail "never made it" - trouble is that this means more work on Monday though !!), so finished and home at a reasonable time. Chose the Stalybridge game over the Curzon Ashton option - which was a good shout in the end as the Curzon v Altrincham game ended up as abandoned at half-time due to a power cut while Curzon were 2-1 up !!

Celtic meanwhile put in a workmanlike performance to beat Nantwich 2-1. Revenge was the order of the day on a couple of counts - Nantwich had beaten Celtic in the Cheshire Senior Cup earlier in the season (cheered the Celtic faithful) - and Nantwich had beaten Mossley in an earlier round of this very same FA Trophy (cheered yours truly !!). I say workmanlike - they took an early lead from a "route one-ish" ball to Marsh who rounded the keeper and scored - but Nantwich gave as good as they got, and certainly controlled the first 15 minutes of the second half, equalising when Rodney Jack's speculative long-range shot somehow squirmed underneath the otherwise impressive Jan Budtz. This equaliser was the wake-up call required and from then on it was pretty much all Celtic. A sublime second goal (far too sublime for the cameraman - a little rusty after 18 days without ... !!) and plenty of chances for further goals - which didn't come but - hey - they were looking pretty comfy at the end. Next round draw on Monday of course ... Pictures at

Stalybridge Celtic 2 Nantwich Town 1 (FA Trophy)

What to do today ?? I may well be out shopping (both real and Christmas - aargh !) after a bit of "housey type stuff", before girding my loins for a tricky Monday at work (I've heard that this day is known as "Big Monday" in the trade - don't think that matters too much now - reckon every day will be a "big" day between now and Christmas Eve !! Also with the Curzon abandonment, comes another footy option on Tuesday with the re-arranged game at the Tameside Stadium (subject to the necessary "5p in the meter" I suppose !) - certainly won't make it over to Cammell Laird for the Mossley game (if on - which it should be - they have a strange micro-climate over there ...).

But for now ... breakfast !
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