Match Preview :- Gainsborough Trinity - Saturday March 26th, 2016 (15:00:00)

On Saturday, Celtic host Gainsborough Trinity (kick off 3pm). Gainsborough are currently twelfth in the league, three places and three points above Celtic, though they have played three games more. There will be a match centre for this game.

Trinity have blown hot and cold this season. They started well with one loss in their opening six games. One win in the next eight saw them drop back down the league, then five wins in seven saw them rise again. They currently have one win in the last six games that has seen them drop from eighth to their current twelfth position. That one win was a home win over Nuneaton Town, with a stoppage time winner from Nathan Jarman. Their last three away games have all been losses, most recently to Lowestoft Town. Their last away win was Hednesford in mid-February. Trinity have the unenviable record of the heaviest home defeat this season when they were beaten 6-1 by Solihull Moors.

Jarman is Trinity's top scorer this season, with seven goals. His closest rivals for the Trinity Golden Boot at Nick Bignall and Liam Davis, who both have five. Home and away they score roughly equally, with seventeen of their thirty-six goals this season coming away from home. They do concede a third more goals away from home though, with thirty-one of their fifty-two goals coming on the road. This gives them an average of 0.9 goals per game on the road (1.1 overall) and conceding 1.7 goals per game away from home (1.2 overall). They have the worst goal difference outside the bottom two, and only Gloucester have scored fewer goals.

We were beaten by Trinity early on this season at the Northolme in our first away game of the season. That game finished 3-1. Gainsborough's last visit to Bower Fold was the final game of last season when Celtic really needed at least a draw, while a loss would have seen us go down. For the neutral, that game would have been amazing. For a Celtic fan, it was horrendous, with Trinity equalising right at the death for the game to finish 4-4. Celtic lived to fight another day, thanks to goals from Alec Mudimu, Aidan Chippendale and two from Chris Simm. The last time Celtic beat Gainsborough at Bower Fold was the end of the 2013/2014 season, when we won 3-2, with a brace from Liam Dickinson and Matt Regan cancelling out his earlier own goal. You have to go back to February 2009 for the last time Trinity won at Bower Fold, with a 2-1 win. Since then, Celtic have won four and drawn two of the ties.

Trinity recently became manager-less, with Dominic Roma in temporary charge. Elliot Hodge and Jamie Yates are Trinity's major injury doubts. In their last match, the 1-0 away defeat to Lowestoft, Trinity lined up as:
1. Jan Budtz
2. Josh Lacey
3. Stephen Brogan
4. Jonathon D'Laryea
5. Adam Quinn
6. Jake Picton
7. Jamie Yates
8. Simon Russell
9. Craig Reid
10. Nathan Jarman
11. Liam Davis

Matty Hughes is Celtic's only major injury doubt, as he recovers from a fractured eye socket. In Celtic's last match, the important 3-1 win over Brackley Town, we lined up as:
1. Tony McMillan
2. Peter Wylie
3. Danny Wisdom
4. John Shaw
5. Jack Higgins
6. Aaron Chalmers
7. Charlie Joyce
8. Dale Wright
9. Chris Simm
10. Adam Farrell
11. Aidan Chippendale

Celtic could overtake Trinity if we win, going as high as twelfth ourselves, as we have a better goal difference. Both Worcester and AFC Telford are within striking distance of Celtic, A draw or loss could see us drop two places to one spot above the drop zone. Winning our games in hand, could see us enter the top ten, so the league is still very tight. Celtic's maximum points that we could possibly get is 70. With Solihull now on seventy-four, it's disappointing to report that Celtic can no longer win the league.

There is a full schedule on Saturday, weather permitting! Other games this weekend:
AFC Fylde (63pts 3rd) v Bradford Park Avenue (40pts th)
AFC Telford (pts th) v Tamworth (40pts 15th)
Alfreton Town (46pts 11th) v Gloucester City (42pts 13th)
Boston United (55pts 7th) v Brackley Town (35pts 20th)
Corby Town (30pts 22nd) v Hednesford Town (30pts 21st)
FC United of Manchester (42pts 14th) v Chorley (52pts 8th)
Harrogate Town (60pts 4th) v Curzon Ashton (48pts 10th)
North Ferriby United (63pts 2nd) v Stockport County (51pts 9th)
Nuneaton Town (56pts 5th) v Lowestoft Town (36pts 19th)
Stalybridge Celtic (pts th) v Gainsborough Trinity (pts th)
Worcester City (39pts 17th) v Solihull Moors (74pts 1st)

Match Sponsor
MG Domestic
Ball Sponsor
Mike & Lesley Elliott
Man of the Match Sponsor
Les Hodgson
Programme Sponsor
Keith Norton