Louis Flower came off the Amex bench to grab a sensational 97th-minute winner for Albion’s under-21s and rescue a game that Shannon Ruth’s men seemed to have let slip.
Albion led 3-0 after only 27 minutes of their Premier League International Cup match through Leigh Kavanagh and two close-range strikes from Mark O’Mahony.
But goals either side of half time from Mackenzie Carse and Rocco Vata brought the visitors from Glasgow back into the game and Daniel Kelly levelled eight minutes from time with the goal of the match. But former Chelsea striker Flower had the last word with time running out.
Albion had beaten Valencia 3-2 in their previous match in a competition that has seemed to bring out the best in their attack, if not their defence.
Albion caught the visitors cold and were ahead after only three minutes when Kavanagh rose unchallenged to meet Luca Barrington’s corner from the right and headed firmly past Celtic goalkeeper Josh Clarke.
Four minutes later Clarke was all that stood between Albion and a two-goal lead, flinging up a glove to deflect the ball over the crossbar as Barrington hit a full-blooded first-time shot from Jamie Mullins’s angled pass.
But the second goal was only delayed. In the eleventh minute, Barrington sped down the left and hit a low cross that O’Mahony converted with relish.
Celtic had hardly been in the game but they should have halved the deficit when Scotland under-19 wing-back Mitchell Frame found himself with the freedom of the left wing. His low cross reached the unmarked Daniel Cummings six yards out, but with an empty net in front of him, the boyhood Celtic fan somehow managed to hit the ball high and wide.
It seemed that Barrington would make them pay immediately when he ran clear on the Albion left, but his attempt to chip Clarke only succeeded in looping the ball onto the roof of the net.
Noel Atom denied Vata as he attempted to turn in a cross from the dangerous Frame, and this time Albion did punish the Scots, although not without a touch of good fortune. Samy Chouchane just failed to make contact with another cross from the left, but defender Magnus Mackenzie’s attempted clearance struck the Albion man and rebounded to O’Mahony, who planted it in the net.
That was the Irishman’s eleventh goal of the season for the under-21s and came only nine days after he scored twice for Ireland under-19s against Albania in a European Championship qualifier.
Celtic stuck to their task, however, and their captain, Mackenzie Carse, reduced the arrears five minutes before the break with a low shot beyond Killian Cahill’s left hand.
Barrington nearly opened the second half with a memorable goal but, after exchanging quick fire passes with O’Mahony, flicked his final effort just the wrong side of the near post. And Clarke blocked what looked like a certain goal from Casper Nilsson when Barrington’s pass fell to him 12 yards out.
But instead of stretching their lead, Albion found themselves pinned back even further after 56 minutes when Carse’s clever chipped pass over the defence found Vata, the son of the former Celtic and Albania defender Rudi, outpacing Atom and beating Cahill from close range.
Now Celtic had their tails up and Albion were facing a stern test of their organisation and resolve. Cahill saved well from Bruno Davidson’s awkwardly-deflected shot, but he could do nothing about Celtic’s equaliser, a superbly-struck left-footed half-volley by Kelly from a cross by the outstanding Frame.
Flower seemed to have missed his chance to save the day when he side-footed wide from Nilsson’s cross. But with time running out he forced his way through the Celtic defence and hit a shot that rolled past the stranded Clarke and into the far corner.
Albion’s next match in the competition is against Lyon at the Amex Elite Football Performance Centre on Wednesday 20 December. On the evidence so far, goals seem guaranteed.
Albion (3-4-2-1): Cahill; McConville, Kavanagh, Atom (Peart 66); Nilsson, Hinchy, Chouchane (Knight 82), Slater; Mullins (Flower 82), Barrington (Ifill 77); O’Mahony.
Subs not used: Reid, Ryan, Mills.