On Saturday, Celtic have their fourth consecutive home match when we host Matlock Town on Non-League day (with a full program of events listed on the news page). Matlock are currently sixteenth on eighteen points, five points and five places above Celtic, though they have played a game more. There will be a match centre and Twitter feed for this match.
After an unbeaten start to the season of our games, including a 1-0 win over Altrincham, they lost four on the bounce and have settled into a pattern of wins and losses since. Apart from a 1-0 away win over Workington four games ago, they have not won away from home, their most recent match against Hednesford away from home being a 2-0 defeat. Their first two away games were both draws, 1-1 in their opening match at Stourbridge and 3-3 at Sutton Coldfield. Their last home match saw them smash five past Sutton Coldfield at home, making that match up 8-3 on aggregate. Interestingly, they have never been winning at half time in any away match this season.
Their top scorer this season is Shaun Harrad, who has ten, eight clear of the chasing pack. Only seven of their twenty-two goals this season came away from home, and three of those in one match. They are scoring at a rate of a goal per game away from home (1.4 overall), whilst twelve of their conceded twenty-two goals have come on the road at a rate of 1.7 goals per game (1.5 overall). They have kept one clean sheet on the road (against Workington) and failed to score twice (Hednesford and Warrington).
The last time the two teams met was in 2012 when Matlock knocked us out of the Trophy, beating us 2-1, Corey Gregory's opener cancelled out just after half time and then a late goal robbing us of the replay. Their last visit to Bower Fold was in 1991, when we beat them 4-0 in the Northern Premier, whilst their last win here was in 1989 when they beat us 2-1 in the Northern Premier. In four visits, Celtic have won three and Matlock have one win.
In Matlock's last game, the 2-0 away defeat at Hednesford, they lined up as:
In Celtic's last match, the 3-1 home win over Whitby, Celtic lined up as:
1. Jack Walton
2. Oliver Crowley
3. Alex Honeyball
4. Tom Brown
5. Luke Ashworth
6. Ross Killock
7. Theo Bailey-Jones
8. Oli Roberts
9. Liam Dickinson
10. Sebastian Julien
11. John Cofie
Celtic could rise to the giddy heights of eighteenth with a win on Saturday, whilst we could drop back down to twenty-third with a loss. A win would keep Celtic's recent momentum going, with winning breeding confidence and a winning mentality ahead of a bottom of the table clash on Tuesday when we go to Marine. Should we win on Saturday, we could be going into the Marine game above Marine depending on they get on at Buxton. Tom Brown, John Cofie and Ross Killock all picked up knocks and niggles against Whitby, but hopefully should be fit for selection.
Other matches on Saturday:
Altrincham (26pts th) v Rushall Olympic (11pts 23rd)
Barwell (21pts 9th) v Shaw Lane (30pts 1st)
Buxton (18pts 15th) v Marine (13pts 20th)
Farsley Celtic (26pts 5th) v Nantwich Town (13pts 19th)
Grantham Town (22pts 7th) v Stafford Rangers (14pts 18th)
Hednesford Town (20pts 14th) v Witton Albion (21pts 10th)
Mickleover Sports (17pts 17th) v Ashton United (20pts 12th)
Stourbridge (27pts 3rd) v Halesowen Town (9pts 24th)
Sutton Coldfield Town (12pts 22nd) v Lancaster City (20pts 11th)
Warrington Town (27pts 2nd) v Whitby Town (20pts 13th)
Workington (22pts 8th) v Coalville Town (23pts 6th)