Burscough 0 Stalybridge Celtic 2: CELTIC made light of the absence of several key players to record their sixth away win of the campaign at hapless Burscough.

Despite being without injury victims Keith Briggs, Steve Torpey, Barrie Keeling and Paul Sykes the Celts cruised to victory with a goal in each half of a game they never looked close to losing.

The Linnets, winless at home all season, and without a goal in front of their home fans since August 30, were swept aside even though Steve Burr’s men were clearly not firing on all cylinders.

They took the lead on seven minutes through a peach of a goal, new boy Richard Battersby cutting inside from the right and unleashing a piledriver from 25 yards that left home keeper Steve Dickinson rooted to the spot.

They almost doubled their lead three minutes later when Dickinson had to react superbly to save from Battersby and the onrushing Nicky Platt thumped the rebound against the post.

It was Dickinson who kept his side in the hunt with a string of fine saves.

He tipped an Andy Smart drive round the post and produced good stops to thwart Chris Williams and Platt as Celtic dominated possession.

Battersby did have the ball in the net right on half-time but his effort was ruled out for offside.

The goal that effectively killed the game off as a contest came 12 minutes after the break.

Good interplay between Platt and the otherwise ineffective Lee Ellington freed Williams on the left side of the Burscough box where he curled a neat finish beyond the despairing Dickinson and into the far corner.

The rest of the game was largely academic with Celtic hardly having to break sweat to contain the lightweight Linnets, although Josh Wilson did crash an 80th minute effort against Paul Phillips’ bar.

The mystery of the difference between home and away form continues to perplex the Celtic faithful.

Attendance: 358