Leo Mazis sparked a second half comeback as Celtic edged out South Shields 2-1 in a bruising encounter.
Although it was officially an u-23 tournament the hoops fielded an u-19 side and were up against it during the first half against the Northern Premier League side who made use of four overage players.
Celtic never really got started and although they restricted the number of chances that South Shields created the English side were well worthy of their 1-0 lead at the interval thanks to a 39th minute goal from Matty Patterson.
Almost straight from the restart Mazis sent a ball into the South Shields penalty box that substitute Jack Aitchison quickly controlled. The substitute showed plenty of experience as he awaited a late challenge with the referee pointing to the penalty spot.
Mazis stepped up to fire a low shot to the keepers’ left to level the scores.
Celtic played with much more purpose after the break, matching their more experienced and physical opponents.
South Shields hit the bar in the 57th minute with the hoops going in front minutes later when Tom Caffrey won possession midway inside the South Shields half, sent a pass right to Grant Savoury who shot across the keeper into the net.
There were chances at each end in the remaining 20 minutes with the only real concern for Celtic a knee injury that saw Mazis limp off with seven minutes left to play.
Southampton will play Marseille in the tournament final.
SOUTH SHIELDS: Connell, Biwer, Lough, Shaw (c), Brown, Turnbull, Richardson, Patterson, Mason, Orrell, Trialist. Subs: Trialist, Morse, Smith, Ross, Wright, Guy, Cowburn, M Colquhoun, Finnigan.
CELTIC: Mullen; Bell, Kennedy, Duffy, Church; McInroy; Caffrey, Mazis ( Paterson 84),Larkin (Coffey 46 (Legault 72)), Savoury; Diver (Aitchison 46)
