Stalybridge Celtic 0 Lancaster City 0: Dolly Blues face FA Cup replay

The Dolly Blues went without numerical reward again despite coolly delivering an otherwise winning performance.

After Celtic gave City a brief scare on nine minutes, Ethan Padden shooting wide, the momentum rested firmly with Mark Fell’s side.

Dale Whitham tested former Witton Albion shot-stopper Greg Hall with a low strike, the first of many times he was called into action.

Dom Lawson almost scored twice in a matter of seconds, Hall tipping his volley over the bar and then seeing the striker’s attempt from the resulting corner go narrowly wide.

Jamie Mellen also had the chance to open his City account but headed over from a corner.

He was also forced off just before the break, suffering a dislocated shoulder, while Charlie Bailey was also substituted in the first half after taking a knock to his knee.

The second half yielded fewer chances for Lancaster and offered a couple to the hosts as the game became stretched and City’s enforced first-period changes put them at a slight disadvantage.

Kyle Harrison had the best of the hosts’ opportunities, heading Theo Bailey-Jones’ cross just wide with five minutes of normal time remaining.

City also welcomed back Enock Likoy for the first time this season after the popular striker finally put a string of knocks behind him.

Speaking afterwards, City boss Mark Fell said: “We dominated the game really, I can’t believe it’s finished 0-0.

“I thought we played really, really well today. That’s probably the best, certainly first half, we’ve played.

“We’ve probably created five, six very, very good chances first half – a little bit wasteful in front of goal but we’re creating them, we’re getting there.

“How we’ve not come in maybe two or three nil up, I’ve no idea.

“We’ve lost Charlie after 20 minutes to an injury, Jamie Mellen’s dislocated his shoulder and I’m heartbroken for him, so we’ve had to shuffle things around, put people in places we didn’t want to put them, put players on that probably shouldn’t have played – two or three who are almost playing on one leg.”