There was no disguising Deacey's anger as Celtic finished with nine men after the injury-time dismissal of defender Georges Santos for a second yellow card in a potentially damaging home defeat to Rushden & Diamonds.

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The experienced Prendergast was shown a straight red in the 29th minute for using foul and abusive language to referee Paul Curry when he felt
Farsley should have had a penalty for a clumsy challenge by defender Curtis Osano.

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Five minutes later, Celtic could easily have lost goalkeeper Curtis Aspden who pushed Jon Challinor to the ground in an off-the-ball incident. Aspden and Challinor were shown the yellow card, much to the
Farsley keeper's relief in particular.

Deacey said: "Rory Prengergast knows he has let the team down. We were controlling the game completely but it was hard work from then on.

"We worked our socks off in all departments so I can be proud of them for that, but we had a great opportunity to get something out of the game and made it very difficult for ourselves."

Until Prendergast's departure, Farsley had indeed looked the more potent force, with Damien Reeves' shout for a second-minute penalty falling on deaf ears and co-striker Stephen Torpey heading over the bar from Prendergast's measured cross.

However, with the side reduced to ten men, Reeves dropped back, leaving Torpey as the loan striker and Challinor went close to opening the scoring for the Diamonds either side of the half-time interval.
The visitors forced nine corners to Farsley's none in the second half, but with skipper Amjad Iqbal and Santos resolute at the heart of Celtic's defence and Craig Bentham and Dominic Krief working especially hard in midfield, it seemed Deacey's troops might just hold out for a point.

However, Diamonds captain Chris Hope headed against the bar and Celtic's valiant ten men finally cracked in the 73rd minute when substitute Charles Ademeno made a darting run on the left and Challinor sent a left-foot shot into the bottom corner.

Deacey, who had earlier replaced Torpey with Roy Stamer, reacted to the goal by sending on James Knowles and recent signing David McNiven, with Reeves moving back up front, but the equaliser wouldn't come and Hope was unfortunate for a second time when his header hit a post.

With four minutes added on, there was still time for Santos to receive his second yellow card – for bringing down the lively Ademeno who had beaten him for pace.

Fourth-from-bottom Weymouth's 6-0 thrashing by Forest Green was some consolation for Celtic, who dropped to fifth from bottom after
Altrincham's draw with Halifax Town.

FARSLEY CELTIC: Aspden; Jackson, Iqbal, Santos, S McNiven (Knowles 76); Watson (D McNiven 76), Krief, Bentham, Prendergast; Reeves, Torpey (Stamer 63). Subs not used: Bambrook, Backhouse.

RUSHDEN & DIAMONDS: Roberts; Gulliver, Corcoran, Hope; Osano (Burgess 71), Shaw, Gooding (Ademeno 59), Woodhouse, El-Kholti; Rankine (Tomlin 63), Challinor. Subs not used: Platt, Howell.

REFEREE: Paul Curry.

ATTENDANCE: 475.