On Monday night, Celtic travel to Basford in the league (kick off 7:45pm). Basford are currently sixth in the Northern Premier League Premier six places and three points ahead of Celtic having played two games more.

Last season, Basford finished seventh, ten places and twenty-three points above Celtic having won eighteen, drawn seven and lost fifteen, they were five points off a play-off place having finished the season strongly with just one loss in their last ten matches, drawing five and winning four. They have played at home three times this season, winning two and losing their opening home match 1-0 against Matlock, beating Lancaster 4-1 and Radcliffe 1-0. After beating Hyde 3-2 on the opening day, they have lost 1-0 to Grantham and drawn 0-0 at Stafford.

Last season's top scorer, Nathan Watson who scored twenty goals, is still with the club, scoring once so far this season. This season's current top scorer with two, is Courey Grantham who finished last season on three. Last season they scored eighty-two goals (fifty-two at home) at a rate of two goals per game (2.6 per game at home), whilst conceding sixty-seven goals (thirty-four at home) at a rate of 1.7 goals per game keeping nine clean sheets (five at home) and failing to score six times (three at home). So far this season, they have scored eight (five at home) at a rate of 1.3 goals per game (1.7 at home) and conceded five (two at home) at a rate of 0.8 goals per game (0.7 at home), keeping two clean sheets (one at home) and failing to score three times (once at home).

We've met Basford twice, both times last season, losing in both matches. Our visit to a very windy Basford saw us lose 5-2, whilst they piled the pressure on Celtic in the season run in by beating us 2- 0 at Bower Fold with Matty Wolfenden and Scott Bakkor getting Celtic's goals.

Basford's most recent match was in the FA Cup, exiting at the first hurdle when they lost away at Matlock Town. In that match, they lined up as:
1. Kieran Preston
2. Josh Law
3. Dominic Roma
4. Lewis Carr
5. Brad Gascoigne
6. Kane Richards
7. Steve Chettle
8. Nathan Watson
9. Matthew Thornhill
10. Jamie Walker

Celtic had their first change of the season when we exited the FA Cup at the hands of Marine, that game finishing 2-0. Craig Hobson was serving the first of his three match bans. Monday night will be the second. In that match, we lined up as:
1. Alex Fojtíček
2. Declan Walker
3. Kallum Mantack
4. Anthony Whitehead
5. Mark Lees
6. Stephen O'Halloran
7. Scott Bakkor
8. Ross Dent
9. Liam MacDevitt
10. Nathan Valentine
11. Neil Kengni

Celtic are three points behind Basford, with two goals in hand, we already have a superior goal difference, so Monday night could see us leapfrog Basford if we win. A win by two goals would put us in the top five, also overtaking South Shields.