On Bank Holiday Monday, Celtic are back at Bower Fold for a local derby clash with Ashton United (3pm). Having won their opening game, Ashton have failed to register another win and currently sit four places above Celtic in fifteenth. Tickets are available online or on the gate.

In the last curtailed season, Ashton also won their opener, beating Stafford away, but then failed to register another win. The previous season (19/20) started badly, with no wins in their opening five, but they finished strongly with only one loss in their last ten, leaving them comfortably mid-table. 

This season, their opener was at home to Matlock, a game they won 2-0, followed by a creditable away draw at Scarborough, though both Mickleover (away) and Whitby (at home) have beaten them since. Apart from their most recent game, the goalless draw with Stafford, Ashton have scored in every other game this season, reversing the trend last season that saw them fail to score in four of their seven games, including the last three. 

Former Celt, Tom Bentham, has two of Ashton’s five goals this season.

We didn’t play Ashton last season, whilst in the season before we managed to play them three times before the sudden end, twice in the league and once in the cup. 

Though New Year’s Day’s match finished goalless, Celtic beat Ashton twice at Hurst Cross, winning 2-1 in the cup (Nathan Valentine and Scott Bakkor the scorers and a late penalty to pull one back) and 2-0 in the league (Craig Hobson and Scott Bakkor the scorers in that one). Ashton have visited eight times in the last thirty years, with their only victory in that time at Bower Fold a 4-3 win in the President’s Cup thanks to a last-minute Ross Clegg own goal. 

Celtic have won four and there have been three draws. Celtic’s last win was back in 2004 when both teams were in the Conference North (we’ve drawn both the games here, since then), when we won 2-1 with goals coming from Phil Eastwood and Andy Hayward.

In Ashton’s last match, the 0-0 draw at home to Stafford, Ashton lined up as:
1. Greg Hartley
2. Stavros Tserpes
3. Tom Warren
4. Harry Spratt
5. Harry Coates
6. Kingsley Williams
7. Liam Tomsett
8. Ben Hardcastle
9. Mubarak Adarabioyo
10. Jack Redshaw
11. Chris Rowney

Celtic’s last match was the 0-2 away loss at Buxton, in which we lined up as:
1. Grant Shenton
2. Ashley Smith-Brown
3. Stephen Brogan
4. Ioan Evans
5. Kennan Quansah
6. Luke Barlow
7. Keeno Deacon
8. Sam Wedgebury
9. Jack Ryan
10. Scott Bakkor
11. Callum Harris

We have a decent record against Ashton, they were the only team we beat when we were playing four/five games a week in the Season from hell with Matty Wolfenden and Jake Charles cancelling out a Lewis Barnes opener that could have cemented Ashton’s play-off hopes. 

Grant Shenton came through the Buxton match without incident whilst Ashton's Thomas Bentham missed the Whitby match through injury.