Colts stun Celtic with last-gasp leveller in league crunch

Yahoo

13 hours ago

Cumbernauld Colts boss John Doyle admits he went from disgusted to delighted after watching his side come from 3-1 down late on to stun Celtic B with a last-gasp equaliser.
Shell-shocked at the break after barely getting a look in, Colts trailed 2-0 and Celtic looked well in control thanks to Filip Skorb's sixth minute opener and Samuel Isiguzo's 33rd minute effort.
Hopes of a Colts comeback were sparked in 66 minutes when Josh Jack pulled one back for the hosts, only for Hayden Borland to quickly restore the Hoops' two-goal lead just two minutes later.
However, Doyle turned to his bench to freshen things up in the final stages and two goals in the final stages stunned the young Celts.
Callum Wilson pulled Colts to within one-goal in 82 minutes and substitute Danny Hatfield had the final say in the fifth minute of added on time, hammering home an equaliser to earn a point.
And Doyle said: 'It was a dramatic finish after being 3-1 down.
'We found ourselves 1-0 down and just when we started to get to grips with them a bit, all of a sudden we lost our way again and we found ourselves 2-0 down.
'We just couldn't cope with their movement at that point and we couldn't get near them at times.
'In the second half, we managed to rejig the shape a bit, which took a bit of time to get used to, but we pulled one back and I thought 'here we go, we've got plenty of time'.
'But just minutes later, we gave away an extremely soft goal from a free-kick which should have never happened.
'I was actually disgusted at that point because we'd just got our noses back in the game.
'If I am being honest, I did think the game was over at 3-1 down because the players didn't look like they had any belief at that point.
'We made some changes and freshened it up and that got us back in the game, and we pressed a lot better. We were better organised and our energy was better.
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'The substitutes made a real difference for us with their energy after a tough game with Clydebank last midweek.
'We got to 3-2 and we felt we had a wee chance. We threw the centre-half up and we created a couple of chances.
'Then, in the last minute, we put a ball into the box, they haven't dealt with it and Danny grabbed the equaliser.
'So we are delighted to take the point, having been 3-1 down so late on, but I am a bit disappointed with how we let ourselves down earlier in the game.'
A 3-3 draw in their opener with Albion Rovers last week and a narrow 2-1 defeat at home to Clydebank last midweek leaves Colts with two points from their opening game, heading into another B team test under the lights this Friday night.
Colts travel to Hearts B and Doyle expects a similar test for his charges as they seek that first win.
He added:'It has been a difficult start, but I feel we are two points short of where we should be after a 3-3 draw at Albion Rovers last week.
'Hearts will be young and energetic, like Celtic. They will be constantly at us. They will dominate the ball and at times we will have to be patient, but I also expect us to have a bit more energy, press well and get after Hearts.
'I expect them to be a similar kind of test and we will need to look at training this week to see who is still fresh.
'We will probably need to freshen it up with some new faces in there as well.'We've got a couple of wee knocks from this week that we might need to sort out.
'Every game in this league is tough and we certainly don't go into any game thinking we are a shoe-in.
'We'll try to get the belief up a wee bit because I feel we are still lacking a bit of confidence, and that is having an effect on a few players.
'But it is still early days. It will be about six or seven games before I can really judge us and the squad.'