Whitby Town boss Nathan Haslam hopes his side can learn from the Celtic defeat.

Celtic beat Town by a single goal from the penalty spot, leaving Primorsky two points from 13 games in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

But while the result was not what Haslam wanted, his message was to “learn and be better” ahead of 10 days without a league game for the Blues.

“It was a poor performance and obviously not the result we expected,” he said, analyzing his side’s performance at the weekend against Celtic.

“I don’t want to say it was men against boys but Stalybridge used their experience against our inexperience and we struggled to cope with their direct approach and aggression.

“It was a bright start from us on the front foot, which is what we want.

“Based on this start, you think we’re on it and we’re going to play a good game.

“You’ve got to give credit to Stalybridge but it’s a huge learning curve for our young lads who aren’t used to these types of games.

“They have to learn and better move forward.”

The Seasiders went wrong with a penalty decision that ultimately denied them anything from the match as Raul Correa converted from 12 yards.

Much of Town’s recent upturn in form has been down to fast-paced football, but the referee’s approach to Saturday’s match did not allow the type of play which Haslam believes played into Stalybridge’s hands.

“There’s never been ten bookings in this game,” Haslam insisted. “The game was very simple and that didn’t help us, it helped Stalybridge.

“Everything went against us, and for us to a certain extent, but there were no fouls in the game.

“Their forward, Korea, gave us a difficult day but it was naive of us because they didn’t have any real quality and we didn’t have any real quality and in the end we lost 1-0.”