On Saturday (kick off 3pm), Celtic face Warrington Town, weather permitting. Warrington are currently sixth in the league on forty-nine points, four places and seven points ahead of tenth placed Celtic, having played two games fewer.
Warrington have only lost twice away from home this season, with South Shields and FC United on two away losses, nobody has lost fewer. At the same time, they have drawn eight away matches, which is the highest of any team in the league. Their last two matches were both away and both draws, most recently coming from behind to equalise in the closing stages with Ashton to secure a 1-1 draw. Prior to that they set a league record for the season, drawing 4-4 with FC United, giving the most goals scored in any game this season. Their last loss on the road was away at Lancaster, when they lost 2-1 at the start of February.
Warrington are something of the come-back kings, this season, with seven games turned from draws into wins or from losses into draws in the last five minutes of a match. Tony Gray seems to be the main focus of this, with five such strikes adding into his nine goals this season. However, he is not their top scorer with Ben Garritty's ten goals putting his nose ahead in their leading scorers chart. On average, they scored their fifty-two goals (twenty-four away) at a rate of 1.7 goals per game (1.7 away) and conceded their forty-two goals (twenty-three away) at a rate of 1.4 goals per game (1.6 away). They have kept two of their five clean sheets on the road and failed to score twice on the road, most recently at Morpeth at the end of December, scoring in all of the dozen games since.
We have a great record against Warrington, especially at their place, winning five and drawing once in our six visits there. At Bower Fold they have visited three times, with two Celtic wins and one for Warrington. The last meeting between the two teams was earlier this season when Celtic won 2-1 thanks to an early goal from Jon Ustabasi and a late strike from Neil Kengni cancelling out the stoppage time strike from Ben Garritty, joining Morpeth and FC United as the only teams to beat them there this season. Warrington's last visit to Bower Fold was last season, Warrington won 2-1, Neil Kengni again scoring, but not enough to counter the goals in each half from Tony Gray and Jack Mackreth. Our last win over them here was the season before when we won 2-0, thanks to Greg Wilkinson and Liam Dickinson.
Warrington's last match was the 1-1 away draw with Ashton. In that match they lined up as:
1. Bobby Jones
2. Adam Carden
3. Thomas Warren
4. Bohan Dixon
5. Mark Robberts
6. Mitchell Duggan
7. Jack Mackreth
8. Scott Brown
9. Joshua Amis
10. Olufisayo Adarabioyo
11. Dylan Yassallo
In Celtic's last match, the 4-1 away defeat (at Bower Fold!) with Atherton Collieries in the league cup, Celtic lined up as:
1. Alex Fojtícèk
2. Kallum Mantack
3. Scott Metcalfe
4. Anthony Whitehead
5. Max Taylor
6. Chris Smalley
7. Scott Bakkor
8. Adam O'Reilly
9. Chris Holroyd
10. Jonathan Ustabasi
11. Harry Freedman
Craig Hobson is serving the last of his suspensions from the red card against Gainsborough, whilst Stephen O'Halloran should be back for the game after missing the game against Atherton.
Only Morpeth in ninth are within three points of Celtic, so we could rise a place if they lose at home to Witton. Hyde and Bamber Bridge are both within three points of Celtic, so if we lose, we could drop two places if Hyde beat Matlock at home and Bamber Bridge beat South Shields at home.