Northallerton Town 1 West Allotment Celtic 3

NORTHALLERTON Town’s bid to become the first club to retain the Ernest Armstrong Cup ended in disappointment on Monday as ten-man West Allotment Celtic left the Gamal Stadium victorious.

Peter Mulcaster’s side failed to play with their usual verve and vigour, even after the dismissal of Celtic’s Stephen Little nine minutes from time.

A penalty from Sean Reid at the start of the second half was followed by a late brace from David Dormand as Paul Stoneman’s side sealed victory.

Town, who briefly drew level with James Bowman’s 68th minute looping header, were off the pace all afternoon.

“We never really got going,”

said a disappointed Mulcaster at the whistle. “It was a flat performance but we’ll draw a line under it and move on.”

After much speculation in the build up to the final, the starting XI did not offer too many surprises. Carl Chillingsworth, with five goals in his last two appearances, was given the nod ahead of Mickey Dunwell to partner Adam Emson up front, while Marcus Laing was preferred to Steve Butterworth in the centre of midfield.

It was Celtic who started the stronger and they could have scored twice in the opening ten minutes. David Henderson was denied by a goal-line clearance from Craig Winter inside five minutes, while the impressive Reid saw a header come back off the crossbar before Danny Shoulder was able to scramble the ball to safety.

And Town’s day got a whole lot worse when 38-goal leading scorer Emson was forced off with a groin injury after just 33 minutes, with Dunwell coming on to replace him.

Having made a habit of performing better in the second half of matches this season, Town’s large contingent of fans were hoping for a repeat this time but it never really materialised. In fact only a superb save from James Briggs prevented Dormand giving Celtic the lead two minutes after the restart.

But that merely delayed the inevitable. Just a minute later, Steve Banks fouled Reid inside the penalty area and referee John Matthews had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Reid, who was the best player on the pitch, stepped up and confidently drilled the kick beyond Briggs.

Having come from behind in the previous three rounds, Town were not out of it yet and they finally begin to exert some pressure on the Celtic back line. However, their best chance of getting back into the final was always likely to come from a set-piece, and indeed it was the delivery of Gav Parkin which created the equaliser 22 minutes from time.

Laing was fouled 25 yards from goal and Parkin’s free kick was met with a looping header by Bowman from 15 yards. The ball initially appeared to be going over the crossbar but it dipped at the last minute, deceived goalkeeper Ryan Beal and landed in the roof of the net.

Suddenly Town had the momentum but parity lasted barely five minutes. A corner from the right by Marc Dummett caused confusion in the Town defence and Dormand arrived unmarked to score with simple header from six yards.

And it was nearly all over moments later when only another terrific stop from Briggs denied Dormand a second after a lovely through ball from Michael Bell. But with their grip on the cup slowly slipping away, Mulcaster’s side were given a boost nine minutes from time.

Chillingsworth was brought down right on the edge of the penalty area by Little and the referee produced a second yellow for the unfortunate Celtic defender.

Celtic sealed victory four minutes from time when substitute Kallum McGlen whipped in a great ball for Dormand to fire past Briggs.