On Tuesday, weather permitting, Celtic face Nantwich Town at Bower Fold. Nantwich are currently twentieth in the league on twenty-seven points eight places and eleven points below Celtic. Kick-off is 3pm, tickets are available on the gate and online.

Nantwich dropped into the bottom three in November after losing 3-0 to Scarborough, and though they have picked up two wins since then, they have remained hovering just above the bottom three spots since. Those two wins were a 2-1 home win over Gainsborough in January and a 2-1 away win over Morpeth at the start of February. Their downturn started in October, when they had their last clean sheet away against FC United, in their last sixteen matches they have two wins four draws and ten losses. Nantwich have had more away wins than home wins, with five away wins and two at home.

Nantwich’s top scorer this season is Sean Cooke, with seven, though former Celt, Daniel Cockerline is right behind on six. Only Atherton have scored fewer goals this season, with twenty-seven goals scored by Nantwich, giving them the second worst attack in the league. Their defence, while not as good is Radcliffe’s, is the sixth worst, with five teams shipping more than Nantwich’s forty-one. Again, they are better away from home, conceding eighteen, which is the fifth BEST away defence in the league. On average, they score 0.9 goals per game whilst conceding 1.2 away goals and 1.4 overall. They have kept five of their six clean sheets on the road, while they have failed to score in five of their twelve games where they have not scored.

We managed to play Nantwich three times during the two curtailed seasons, and in all three matches, Nantwich won, including their last visit to Bower Fold, when Nantwich beat us 2-0. Our last win over Nantwich at Bower Fold was the season before when Celtic won 1-0 in the FA Trophy thanks to a Scott Bakkor penalty, whereas in the league that season, we drew 1-1 thanks to a Ross Dent equaliser after Sean Cooke opened the scoring for Nantwich. Our last win at Bower Fold in the league was the 17/18 season when we beat Nantwich 1-0 at Bower Fold with a first half goal from Alex Honeyball. We also beat them away that season, winning 3-2 with a brace from Matty Wolfenden and a third from Connor Hughes. In the last thirty years, Nantwich have visited Bower Fold seven times, winning three, Celtic winning three and there being one draw.

In Nantwich’s last match, the 3-1 defeat at home to Buxton, Nantwich lined up as:
1. Matty Gould
2. Casper Hughes
3. David Vaughan
4. Troy Bourne
5. Joel Stair
6. Luke Nock
7. Akiel Raffie
8. Matthew Bell
9. Joe Malkin
10. Sean Cooke
11. Shaun Miller

In Celtic’s last match, the 2-0 away win over Witton Albion, Celtic lined up as:
1. Robbie Hemfrey
2. Matthew Liptrott
3. Stephen Brogan
4. Sam Wedgbury
5. Connor O’Grady
6. Shane Killock
7. Callum Harris
8. Kennan Quansah
9. Raul Correia
10. Scott Bakkor
11. Justin Johnson

Liam Hughes missed the last two matches after testing positive for Covid, but is hopeful to play, with thanks to Stoke for the loans of Xander Parke and Robbie Hemfrey.

A win for Celtic wouldn’t see us rise any more places, but would put us past the forty points mark and possibly within touching distance of the top ten, especially with Stafford, Morpeth and Lancaster all not playing. Atherton are within three points of Celtic, so a loss could see us drop a place if we lose and Atherton beat Witton.