Phase one of the project including three full-sized UEFA standard natural grass training and match pitches, with undersoil heating to the main pitch, an artificial grass pitch and an additional goalkeeping training area. While the second phase to come will provide conference facilities and live-in dormitory areas for young players, to go alongside the amazing indoor facilities in the huge main building.
As can be seen from the photos, to say the venue is exposed to the elements would be an understatement and a biting wind comes across the valley floor and over the pitches, what it must be like there in the depths of winter you dread to think. The reserve team friendly today, kicking off at 1.30pm and played behind closed doors at Celtic's request, taking place on the pitch nearest to the complex.
Team news-wise for Carlisle, it was a mixture of youth and experience really, with Peter Murphy alongside Steven Swinglehurst at centre-half, the rest of the back four being an out of position Jonny Blake at left-back and Tony Kane at right-back. Across the middle meanwhile from left to right were Conor Tinnion, Michael Burns, Graham Kavangh and Gavin Rothery, with Ryan Bowman partnering Richard Offiong upfront.
With both manager Tony Mowbray and reserve team boss Neil Lennon viewing from the sidelines for large parts of the game the first chance came the way of their Celtic charges on three minutes when a cross came in from the left which saw an eight-yard header saved at the near-post by Blues goalkeeper Adam Collin.
Sixty seconds later and Bowman sent Offiong racing away at pace down the left-hand channel, Offiong being clearly pulled back only for the referee to play a pretty non-existent advantage as Offiong shot across goal and wide of the target from 15 yards out. With ten minutes on the clock Bowman was fouled just to the right of the 'D', Kavanagh then touching the set-piece off for a well-hit left-footed strike by Murphy which was well held by Hoops stopper Dominic Cervi.
For a short spell Kane and Blake swapped flanks and in the 12th minute a Kavanagh corner was cleared straight out to Kane. His first right-footed shot being blocked before the ball came right back to him and he thumped a similar effort at pace inches wide of the near-post. A good few minutes later and Offiong started to have a little feel of his hamstring, the United striker then coming off to be replaced by Andy Cook in the 20th minute as a precautionary measure.
Two minutes later and Paul McGowan hit in an excellent long range strike which Collin did well to lean backwards and tip over the top. The resultant corner in seeing a header from eight yards out slide away past the back-stick. Carlisle started to have a good spell in the game now though as Celtic started to go a little long, Rothery and Kavanagh both shooting over the top from just outside the box in the 25th and 35th minutes respectively.
Four minutes later and Tinnion cut in from the left before shooting left-footed across goal and wide of the target from 25 yards out. Blake, who had a reasonable game playing in an unaccustomed role, then sending a curler from a similar distance wide of the back-stick with his right boot. The last chance of the half coming the way of the Hoops though when Collin showed good handling on a long range shot that took a bounce in front of him.
For a good while in the second-half Japanese international Kozi Mizuno was pulling the strings for the Hoops as he dropped off from his frontline position into the hole. The 24-year old only sixty seconds in hammering a 25-yard free-kick across goal and inches wide of the far-post before in the 49th minute he did give Celtic the lead. Mizuno set free 12 yards out in the middle to shoot right-footed into the net under and off the body of a diving Collin.
Collin was able to wave a Hoops 15-yarder over the top shortly afterwards before the Blues made a double change just before the hour-mark, Kavanagh and Tinnion being replaced by youth teamers Liam Davison and Manny Richardson respectively. The match really died off for a while now with both sides battling for possession in the middle of a small pitch, the next chance coming in the 72nd minute when Cervi made a save from Richardson's right-footed shot from distance.
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Two minutes later and Rothery put Cook away down the right-hand channel, Cook then cutting in well past a defender and onto his left foot only for his 15-yard effort to go straight at Cervi at the near-post when anywhere else might have seen the Celtic keeper struggling. The Hoops then made a quick change in personnel down the right flank before Burns had a shot well blocked by former Stockport County youth team centre-half Josh Thompson.
United did find an equaliser in the 78th minute though when Rothery sent another ball down the right for Cook to race onto, this one though flicked off Thompson and sat up a treat for the Blues striker 20 yards out. Cook not needing asking twice as he smashed an unstoppable right-footed half-volley across Cervi and into the far top corner of the Celtic net.
The Hoops then made another substution before they tried to retake the lead after 88 minutes, an eight-yard header from a corner though going well wide of Collin's back-stick. Sixty seconds later and it was Carlisle looking to get on the scoresheet once more when Cervi made a bit of a mess of Richardson's 25-yard right-footed half-volley, the shot looking an easy take for the giant keeper only for the American to slip and have to take the ball in more unconvential circumstances.
The last chance for either side to get a win coming just before the final whistle when Davison put a good pass down the left flank with the outside of his right boot. Bowman raced onto it and cut in past a defender at pace, but with no options in the middle, he toe-poked a close range effort straight at Cervi at the near-post. The match then proving to be a good run out for both sets of players with only the precautionary withdrawal of Offiong being a slight concern from a United perspective.
United line-up :
Adam Collin, Tony Kane, Jonny Blake, Steven Swinglehurst, Peter Murphy, Graham Kavanagh (Liam Davison 58), Gavin Rothery, Michael Burns, Richard Offiong (Andy Cook 20), Ryan Bowman, Conor Tinnion (Manny Richardson 58).
Unused substitutes :
Mark Gillespie (GK) and James Wood.
Reserve Team Results : Click here
Reserve Team Table : Click here