Thursday night sees Celtic take part in the televised first round of the Setanta Shield with Blyth Spartans the visitors (kick of 7:45pm). Blyth are currently nine points and nine places behind Celtic in sixteenth on twelve points having played a game less than us.

Blyth won their last match 3-0 away at Hucknall, but lost the match before, beaten 1-0 away at Gainsborough in the FA Cup. They have been playing well away from Croft Park this season, losing twice on the road in the league, 4-0 at Gainsborough on their opening away trip and 2-0 away at Workington. They have drawn with Hinckley and ourselves, and most recently have beaten Solihull and Hucknall. In other competitions, Blyth progressed to the next round of their County Cup with a 3-1 win over Ashington.

We have had a good record in cup competitions over Blyth, knocking them out of the FA Cup and FA Trophy in successive seasons, and beating them in the President?s Cup final at Blyth on penalties. And though their visit here earlier in the season saw a drab 0-0 draw, their previous visits have not been so profitable, and Blyth haven?t won at Bower Fold in the past twenty years at least, and have beaten us at Croft Park only three times in seven times of asking.

Blyth have scored just three of their ten goals in the first half this season, whilst they have conceded their eighteen goals roughly equally between the two halves. They have scored an average of 0.8 goals per game this season (both away and overall), whilst they have conceded 1.2 away from home (1.5 overall). Their top scorer this season is Andrew Thompson with three, though Robbie Dale and Chris McCabe are pushing him all the way, and both sit just behind on two apiece. Three of Blyth?s four clean sheets have come away from home this season, and until recently it had been scoring that was their problem, having failed to score in five matches (three away from home).

Blyth have two new faces in the squad, striker Richard Logan and wide man Jordan King. Logan started against Hucknall, but Logan is currently recovering from injury and watched from the sidelines. Chris McCabe is Spartans? only other injury doubt, though he was a named sub against Hucknall.

In the 3-0 away win over Hucknall, Blyth lined up as:
1. Adam Bartlett
2. Ben Christensen
3. Andrew Leeson
4. Peter Snowdon
5. Richard Forster
6. Gareth Williams
7. Adrian Webster
8. Alex Gildea
9. Robert Dale
10. Richard Logan
11. Andrew Thompson

Celtic will be able to welcome back Ashley Winn, whom has served his one match ban, whilst the fitness of Steve Payne and Andrew Smart remain our only concerns. In our last match, the 2-0 away win over Redditch, we lined up as:
1. Paddy Gamble
2. Barrie Keeling
3. Simon Garner
4. Paul Sykes
5. Mark Haran
6. James Dudgeon
7. Lee Ellington
8. Gareth Davies
9. Chris Hall
10. Matty Barlow
11. Carlos Roca

Stalybridge Celtic have the fifth best defence in the league and the sixth best attack. We have lost just twice at home this season, most recently in the FA Cup, a result Celtic will be keen to put behind them. In the league, we?ve lost only once at home, to Kettering Town on the opening day. The automated prediction algorithm is predicting a tight match, with a final score of 2-1 to Celtic. With the game going to extra time and penalties should it be a draw at full time, hopefully Celtic can seal the win before an energy sapping extra period is played, as we have a tough match on Saturday when we travel to Telford.