On Saturday, Celtic are back at home to face Newcastle Town. Newcastle are currently fifteenth in the league on eighteen points, eight places and four points behind Celtic having played one more game. Kick-off 3pm.

Newcastle started the season with one win in seven, losing five games. Their win came over Sporting Khalsa at home. Their other point in that period came with a goalless draw away at Avro. Since the end of September, Newcastle have turned their season around somewhat and climbed from the bottom three, and have lost twice in the last eight, winning four. This has been largely down to their excellent home form, in which they’ve lost twice, won five and drawn one. On the road, however, they have yet to pick up a win and have scored one, giving them the worst away record in the league, picking up two points from twenty-one available. They won their last match 3-0 over Nantwich and drew their last away match 0-0 at Stafford.

Omari Brown scored their only away goal this season at Vauxhall, but their top scorer is Joel Jones by a country mile, scoring eight of their fourteen goals, their other scorers picking up one each. Only Darlaston have scored fewer goals than Newcastle this season. On average, they score 0.1 goals per game away from home and 0.9 overall. Newcastle have failed to score in six away games (eight overall) and have kept two of their seven clean sheets on the road (both goalless draws). They concede an average of 1.3 goals away, 1.1 overall.

In the four meetings between the clubs, Celtic have won three, including both games at Bower Fold. In the last meeting, Celtic won 2-1, with goals from Liam Tongue and Jack Irlam, whilst in their other visit, Aaron Dwyer scored twice in another 2-1 win. In Newcastle, Town won in Celtic’s last visit there, beating us 2-1 (Joe Duckworth with the goal) and in the only other meeting, Celtic won 4-3, Scott Wara getting an injury time winner after Newcastle had pulled back to level.

In Newcastle’s last match, the 3-0 home win over Nantwich, Newcastle lined up as:
1. Joe Slinn
2. Jack Bostock
3. Sean Lawton
4. Ernest Ofosu
5. Lewis Brown
6. Jensen Tortoishell
7. Cameron Dourish
8. Ethan Vale
9. Tim Grice
10. Joel Jones
11. Oliver Ritchie

In Celtic’s last match, the 4-0 away defeat to Stafford, Celtic lined up as:
1. Charlie Monks
2. Mike Koral
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Jordan Butterworth
5. Jack Byrne
6. Jack Tinning
7. Charlie Doyle
8. Liam Tongue
9. Rube Jerome
10. Jack Irlam
11. Andy Scarisbrick

Charlie Doyle’s suspension for his red card against Stafford will not start until Tuesday’s game, and he will be available for selection. Celtic are still in touch with second place, but will need to win in order to get there. Avro (Away at Khalsa), Shifnal (away at Trafford), and Bury (at home to Kidsgrove) are all ahead of us. Our recent losses, however, have allowed eight teams to creep up on us, meaning we could drop to twelfth with a loss.