On Saturday, Celtic return to Bower Fold to face former tenants, FC United of Manchester. After a stuttering start, FC United are currently twelfth without an away win this season.
Both Hyde and Warrington have beaten FC United on the road this season, with South Shields being held to a 1-1 draw. They’ve had three wins, though, beating Bamber Bridge, Morpeth and Radcliffe at home, notching up 7 goals without reply in those matches. Last season saw them only lose once (away at South Shields) but with four draws, they never really got started. Unlike the first lockdown season when they were flying and looking set for promotion back to the Conference North, being in a strong second as the season terminated.
That season saw Tunde Owolabi look set to break the all time goal scoring record for the league, with 29 goals as the season ended, scoring two hat-tricks in his final two games for the club. He has since moved on, and now plays in the Irish Premier Division for Finn Harps. Former Celt Paul Ennis is still with the club and combing the past three seasons is their current top scorer still with the club. FC United’s last away match, was a 2-1 defeat at Hyde, meaning this season they have conceded five goals on the road, whilst scoring two.
In the early days of FC United’s existence, we mainly played them in friendlies with a brief interlude for the FA Cup, in which we came back from 2-0 to finish 3-3 away from home, only to lose 1-0 at Bower Fold in 2009. In 2015 the two teams met in the league for the first time, going on to meet three times that season. It was 1-0 both home and away in the league thanks to Bohan Dixon at home and Danny Wisdom away, with a 4-3 thriller in the Manchester Premier Cup, Chris Simm finally sealing the win after Darius Osei, Steve Tames and Matty Hughes all kept giving Celtic the lead before FC United pegged us back. That was the last season we beat them competitively. Since then, they’ve beaten us in the final of the Manchester Premier Cup (with the weirdest goal ever), and beaten us twice in the league at Bower Fold. We did draw against them in our last visit there, finishing 2-2.
In the FA Cup, they held Blyth Spartans to a draw in Blyth on Saturday, losing 2-0 in the replay in their most recent match. In that match, FC United lined up as:
1. Dan Lavercombe
2. Curtis Jones
3. Matty Rain
4. Adam Dodd
5. Drew Baker
6. Aaron Morris
7. Alistair Waddecar
8. Michael Potts
9. Brad Holmes
10. Cedric Main
11. Paul Ennis
Celtic’s last match was the 1-0 away loss at Gainsborough, in which we lined up as:
1. Lewis Hood
2. Connor O’Grady
3. Ashley Smith-Brown
4. Sam Wedgbury
5. Keenan Quansah
6. Shane Killock
7. Scott Bakkor
8. Callum Harris
9. Kieran Wells
10. Ethan Padden
11. Justin Johnson
Celtic were missing Grant Shenton, Dougie Nyaupembe and Stephen Brogan.