On Saturday, Celtic kick off the 2016/17 campaign with a home match against Nantwich town, a team earmarked as one of the favourites this year. Nantwich finished fifth last season, losing out in the play-off semi-final to the eventual winner, Spennymoor, 2-0 at Spennymoor.

Nantwich have had a solid pre-season, losing only one of their ties, a 2-1 away defeat to Sandbach United. In all, they have played nine PSF matches, drawn two and won the other six. The end of last season saw them fail to win in their last three matches, losing 4-2 away at Stourbridge, drawing 0-0 away at Halesowen and losing 1-0 at home to Workington. Their last win was a 3-0 home win over Ilkeston on April 15th, whilst their last away win was back in mid-march when they beat Ilkeston 3-2.

Last season's top scorer, midfielder Sean Cooke, who scored seventeen goals, is still with Nantwich, and is the one to watch, with his midfield partner, Matt Bell also a danger man scoring seventeen. Frontman, Ryan Brooke, netted ten goals last season, is also still with the Dabbers, with Dave Cooke building on his squad, rather than rebuilding it. There are a handful of new faces for the Nantwich fans to learn, so they will be a settled squad.

We've mainly met Nantwich is the Cheshire Senior Cup competitively. The last meeting was in October 2014 when Nantwich beat Celtic at Bower Fold in the Cheshire Senior Cup, whilst the final in 2012 also went the Dabbers way with a 1-0 defeat. In the last five Cheshire Senior Cup meetings, Nantwich have won four of them, with Celtic's only victory being the 4-0 away defeat back in 2004. We have beaten them twice in the last two meetings in the FA Trophy though, with a 2-1 home win in 2010 (Phil Marsh and Lloyd Ellams with the goals), and a 3-0 away win in 2009 (Matty Barlow, Joe O'Neill and Keith Briggs the scorers).

There is everything to play for in the opening game, and both teams will want to get off to a winning start. Hopefully, home advantage will be the telling factor.