On Saturday, Celtic make the trip south of Birmingham to take on Leamington in what is a crucial match. Leamington are currently on thirty-seven points in seventeenth position, four points and four places above Celtic. There will be a match centre for this crucial match.

Leamington had a reasonable start to the season winning four and drawing one of their opening eight matches, since then, they have hit a bit of a dip, and fallen from a season high of seventh to their current position. With four losses on the trot for Leamington, scoring just twice, they are now perilously close to the relegation dog fight. Their last win at home was a 2-1 win over Gainsborough Trinity, with two other wins in their last ten keeping their nose above the drop zone waters, beating Solihull Moors 1-0 at home and thrashing Colwyn Bay 5-1 in Wales. They have also managed an impressive 2-2 draw away at Chorley in that period.

Our previous meeting with Leamington was back at the start of September, when they won 1-0. Last season, Celtic won 2-1 at home with goals from Conal Platt and Obi Anorou, and 1-0 away.

Leamington's top scorer this season is Danny Newton who has thirteen goals, though Jordan Goddard is close behind him on eleven. Between them, they have scored nearly half of Leamington's fifty-two goals this season. They are scoring 1.4 goals per game, with 1.6 at home, whilst conceding 1.8 goals per game (1.7 at home). In total, they have conceded sixty three goals this season. They have kept four clean sheets in total, three at home, and failed to score seven times, four at home.

Leamington will be without Danny Newton, who is serving out a three match ban for a red card he picked up against AFC Fylde at the start of March, however, they have signed Ashley Worsfold on loan for a month from Harrogate Town. In their last match, the 3-1 home defeat to Chorley, Leamington lined up as:
1. Jonny Maddison
2. James Mace
3. Connor Gudger
4. Joe Magunda
5. Jamie Tank
6. Delroy Gordon
7. Lee Moore
8. Jordan Goddard
9. Ashley Worsfold
10. Jack Edwards
11. Lee Chilton

Celtic will be without Harley Wigley who is starting his three match ban for the red card he picked up at home to Barrow. Kelvin Bleau and Lewis King will also be missing through injury, though Stefan Galinski and Nathan Hughes may be able to make a return having both had pitch time last week. Celtic have just signed Chris Simm and Adam Carden to strengthen the squad ahead of this crucial match. In Celtic's last (competitive) match, the 2-1 win over Gloucester City, Celtic lined up as:
1. Ross Etheridge
2. Oliver Crowley
3. Matt Regan
4. Matty Hughes
5. Harley Wigley
6. Michael Potts
7. Ben McKenna
8. Scott Kerr
9. Aidan Chippendale
10. Paul Ennis
11. Jamie Allen

With Celtic's win last weekend, we are now within a position to escape the bottom three if other results go our way. We are three behind both Colwyn Bay and Gloucester, and four behind Leamington and Brackley. We have games a game in hand on both Leamington and Brackley, so they two are within our sites. If we can beat Leamington on Saturday, and win our game in hand we will go above them. Though Gainsborough are catchable, finishing in nineteenth would be enough to fight another season. A game with a big say with the final make-up of the bottom three is Colwyn Bay v Brackley Town, both of whom are in our sights. Solihull and Barrow could both do Celtic a big favour, assuming we do ourselves a big favour by beating Leamington.

Other games this weekend:
Barrow (73pts 1st) v Bradford Park Avenue (44pts 14th)
Boston United (60pts 5th) v Worcester City (52pts 11th)
Chorley (60pts 6th) v Tamworth (63pts 4th)
Colwyn Bay (36pts 20th) v Brackley Town (37pts 18th)
Gainsborough Trinity (38pts 16th) v AFC Fylde (71pts 2nd)
Guiseley (63pts 3rd) v North Ferriby United (53pts 9th)
Harrogate Town (47pts 13th) v Lowestoft Town (42pts 15th)
Hednesford Town (59pts 7th) v Oxford City (55pts 8th)
Hyde (20pts 22nd) v Stockport County (53pts 10th)
Solihull Moors (49pts 12th) v Gloucester City (36pts 19th)