On Good Friday, Celtic travel to Leek Town. Leek are currently champions elect, leading the pack by thirteen points. Indeed, with two wins over the Easter weekend, they could receive their trophy on Monday. They are eight places and twenty-four points clear of Celtic. Kick off 3pm.
Leek have been beaten this season, five times, two of those at home. But they’ve not been beaten since mid-November and are currently eighteen games undefeated. With eight games between mid-November and the start of January, Leek also hold the record for the most consecutive wins this season. They dropped points in their last game, drawing 1-1 away at Hednesford. The last points dropped at home was to Vauxhall, when they drew 1-1, following it up with two straight home wins of 3-0 against Prescot and Runcorn, two play-off hopefuls.
Between the mid-December and mid-January, Leek’s defence set the league’s record for the most consecutive clean sheets, six. Rob Stevenson’s seventeen goals puts him two ahead of Aaron Dwyer and one behind the league’s current top goal scorer Sefton Gonzales of Clitheroe. Daniel Trickett-Smith and Thomas Carr are not that far behind with fourteen and thirteen goals apiece. At 2.4 goals per game (2.6 at home), Leek have the top attack in the league at the moment, but with 1.1 conceded per game (0.9 at home), they also have the second best defence. They have scored seventy-six goals this season, forty-one at home. Runcorn and Widnes have conceded fewer at home, whilst Prescot have scored fewer overall.
Our last meeting was earlier this season when Leek came to Bower Fold. Unlike Celtic, Leek knew how to play against ten men, and after Connor O’Grady’s sending off, Leek turned the 1-1 draw into a 5-1 win, with Max Leonard scoring for Celtic. Our last visit to Leek in a competitive match was in 2004, when we lost 2-1 in the FA Cup after several postponements, with Andy Hayward scoring and Paul Sykes in goal. Our last visit in the league was in 2000, and Celtic won that one with Steve Jones and Kev Parr getting the goals in a 2-0 win. Since the 90s, we’ve visited competitively six times, won twice, lost twice, and drawn twice.
In Leek’s last match, the 1-1 away draw with Hednesford, Leek lined up as:
1. Dino Visser
2. Liam Buckley
3. Louis Keenan
4. Julius Ndene
5. Oliver Harrison
6. Fenton Green
7. Marc Grocott
8. Tom Reilly
9. Aaron Opoku
10. Thomas Cart
11. Rob Stevenson
In Celtic’s last match, the 4-3 home win over Widnes, Celtic lined up as:
1. Luke Hewitson
2. Ethan Vaughan
3. Cole Lonsdale
4. Max Leonard
5. Connor O’Grady
6. Greg Wilkinson
7. Brad Byrne
8. Michael Brewster
9. Massanka Ntumba
10. Joseph Robbins
11. Aaron Dwyer
A win for Celtic could lift us level on points with fifth placed Liverpool (away at Mossley on Saturday) and sixth placed Witton (away at Hednesford on Saturday). We could also overtake Clitheroe (at home to Prescot on Saturday) and Nantwich (away at Runcorn on Friday). Widnes (away at Hanley on Saturday) and Avro (at home to Chasetown on Saturday) could both overtake us should we lose.
