A bumper Christmas crowd of 482 applauded the players off at the end of this eight-goal derby and in the season of good will it was fitting as both sets of players had given their all.

Neither manager would have been handing plaudits out in their respective dressing rooms as the dust settled. The good will from the defences had stretched too far, especially Guiseley's, who let a three-goal lead slip.

Referee Ken Haycock was not swept along by the mood of the festive season. He dismissed Peter Atkinson and awarded the home side a spot-kick from which they made it 3-2 before the half-hour mark.

Just one goal behind but with the initiative behind them, Farsley were expected to beat their ten-man visitors with more than an hour of play remaining. They completed the challenge with their reserve tanks unused.

"What a strange game that was!" said stunned Celts boss Lee Sinnott. "I don't know if it's because it's Christmas and everyone was in a relaxed frame of mind. I didn't go overboard when we finally took the lead because I thought: 'What's coming next?' It was one of those.

"We were 3-0 down after 12 minutes and we just weren't in the game. The sending off was obviously crucial, even though I thought we were coming back into it before that happened.

"I didn't have a good view of it but I spoke to the referee about it after and he actually said it was a double penalty. The first tackle would have meant just a pen but the second one made their lad last man so he had to go.

"From then on I could only see us going on to win it and thankfully we did.

"I live in Guiseley and after that first 15 minutes I feared the worst. I thought I wouldn't be able to walk out with my head held high for a long while."

The Celts were in neutral, unable to find a gear. When their former striker Scott Jackson headed in the third it appeared all over, but Matt Smithard started the unlikely comeback with a direct free-kick.

Atkinson's departure, and the resulting penalty that gave Mark Betts the first of his hat-trick, hastened the reversal of fortune.

The teams were level by the break and, with a numerical advantage for the whole second half, Celtic were firm favourites for the three points.

Mark Stuart had given Guiseley an eighth-minute lead with a crisp shot from seven yards. Celts keeper Tom Morgan then parried a Stuart header but David Cooke swept in the loose ball before a crazy four-minute spell ended with Jackson converting Dave Henry's cross.

Andy Watson got the faintest of touches on a cross from Richard Annan for the 35th-minute equaliser.

Betts slotted home five minutes into the second half following a flowing move and bagged his treble 15 minutes from time with a ten-yard shot that squeezed in by the post.

"There was a lot to think about in a game like that but my thoughts peaked after 18 minutes," said visiting manager Neil Parsley, who locked his players in the dressing room for almost an hour after the match. "I didn't think it was a free-kick for their first goal, the penalty has punished us more than once because of the sending off and the switch of initiative, while the third goal was down to rank defending, and so were the fourth and fifth."