Match Preview :- Marine - Saturday September 7th, 2019 (15:00:00)

On Saturday, Celtic host Marine in the FA Cup first Qualifying Round (kick off 3pm) after both teams came through their respective replays on Tuesday night. Marine are currently second in the Northern Premier League Northwest Division having had an unbeaten start to the season.

Like ourselves, Marine played in the Preliminary Round, with Padiham holding them to a 1-1 draw in Padiham after being pegged back in the second half, with Marine going through after the replay, beating Padiham 3-0. In the league, Marine have only played one away game, beating Colne 3-1 in their second game of the season. At home they were held on the opening day by Dunstan in a 1-1 draw, being pegged back in the second half. Since then, they have beaten Prescot Cables and Pickering Town 2-1 in Crosby, both times getting the first goal, losing the lead and then regaining it to go on to win.

So far this season, Craig Linfield is leading the goal-scorers' chart, with four, scoring in four of their last five matches. Last season's top scorer Craig Carney got 5 league goals for the Mariners, joint with Chris Doyle and Danny Mitchley. Last season, Marine failed to score in fourteen matches, so far this season, they have scored in every match. Whilst they kept eleven clean sheets last season, so far this season, they've conceded in every league match, but kept a clean sheet against Padiham in the FA Cup.

Marine's side contains a couple of familiar faces, with Josh Solomon-Davis and Steve Irwin both lining up regularly.

In their last match, the 3-0 home win over Padiham, Marine lined up as:
1. Germano Mendes
2. Josh Solomon-Davies
3. James Ellison
4. Kenny Strickland
5. Anthony Miley
6. Scott Lycett
7. Craig Lindfield
8. Ethan Devine
9. James Devine
10. Brett Mbalanda
11. James Barrigan

Celtic have been unchanged so far this season, but that will change this week with the commencement of Craig Hobson's three match ban. In our last match, the 3-2 away win over West Didsbury and Chorlton, we lined up as:
1. Alex Fojtíček
2. Declan Walker
3. Kallum Mantack
4. Anthony Whitehead
5. Mark Lees
6. Stephen O'Halloran
7. Scott Bakkor
8. Ross Dent
9. Craig Hobson
10. Nathan Valentine
11. Neil Kengni

If a replay is required it will take place on Tuesday in Crosby.

We beat Marine in a friendly pre-season, winning 2-1, but in competitive fixtures, Marine's last win at Bower Fold was in 2017, when they won 2-0, later going on to beat us 3-1 at their place. Last season Celtic won the home fixture 3-2, and drew 1-1 at Marine. Over the last fifteen competitive visits, Celtic have won nine, drawn three and lost three.

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