Cleator Moor Celtic came unstuck at home to Prestwich Heys as too many of the home players had an off day.

Prestwich finished 3-0 winners but, on the evidence of this, they will administer bigger defeats to teams throughout the Hallmark Security League First Division North.

Remarkably, the visitors still lie two places and two points behind Celtic who are tenth in the table, some 10 points behind joint leaders Carlisle City.

Man-of-the-match Dominic Slaven had twice gone close but, when he fired in a cross on 28 minutes, both Jamie Glover and goalkeeper Craig Rule left it for each other, giving Lee Bruce a free header to score the opening goal.

The visitors’ Mark Ayres picked up the first yellow card of a well-contested game for a foul on Tom Mahone.

Early in the second half, Callum Birdsall was only inches wide of the post after good work from Mahone and Shaw.

Then, Mahone fired a free-kick just wide of the upright and, minutes later, he hit one just over the bar.

It was much better than the first half but then came the body blow as the visitors doubled their lead on the hour mark.

A corner kick was fired over by Slaven and Lee Grimshaw headed home at the near post.

Ten minutes later, Prestwich scored a third and it was game over.

It came after a Celtic attack broke down and Prestwich countered well and two quick passes put Grimshaw in for the goal, although it might have finally gone in off a Celtic player.

Manager John George accepted Prestwich were a better team and said: “Sometimes you have got to hold your hands up and say you were beaten by a better team and this was one of those occasions.

“Even in hindsight, I’m not sure we could have done anything on the day to affect the outcome.

“Some of our players were a touch rusty, having been unavailable for the bank holiday weekend and us not having a game last weekend, which probably impacted on our performance.

“We never gave up, though, and Prestwich will hand out heavier defeats than we suffered as the season goes on.”

On Saturday, Celtic are on the road to St Helens Town (kick-off 3pm).