On Thursday, Celtic host Witton in the final home match of the campaign (kick off 7:45pm) twenty-four hours after losing to Workington. Witton are currently seventh in the league on sixty-four points, fifteen places and sixteen points above Celtic. There will be a match centre and Twitter feed for the game.
Apart from a two week spell in September and October when Witton lost five matches on the trot, Witton have had a solid season, topping the table at the start of September. However, this has changed since the start of April. Witton have had four draws and two losses in April, and have won just once since the end of March. They have drawn all four away games in April, and lost both home matches.
Witton have scored seventy-six goals this season, with Steve Tames and Robert Hopley both reaching twenty goals this season, though Tames is just ahead on twenty-one. Thirty-six of their goals have come away from home this year at a rate of 1.6 goals per game on the road and 1.7 overall. Thirty-two of their sixty-three conceded goals have come away from home, at a rate of 1.4 goals per game. Witton have kept eleven clean sheets this season, with four of them coming away from home. They have failed to score in seven away matches, five of which were away.
We played Witton in September, losing 4-1 after Oli Roberts had got Celtic back in the game, a penalty that never was and a sending off for Danny Morton leaving Celtic pointless. Over the last thirty years, Witton have visited Bower Fold ten times, winning twice, most recently in 2006 in the Cheshire Senior Cup. They have won here in the league, back in 1993 when both teams were in the Conference, when they won 2-1. Celtic's last win over them was in 2016 when we held them to a draw in Witton in the FA Cup, then beat them 2-1 at Bower Fold in the replay with goals from Matty Hughes and Andy Owens. Celtic have won six of the encounters at Bower Fold, and there have been two draws. Celtic's last win in the league over Witton was in 1994, when we won 2-1 in the Conference.
Witton's last match was the 4-1 home defeat by Farsley Celtic on Tuesday. In that match, Witton lined up as:
1. Lewis King
2. Kevin Grocott
3. Ben Turner
4. John McGrath
5. Pablo Mills
6. Alex Morris
7. Andrew Dales
8. Lewis Belgrave
9. Matthew Barnes-Homer
10. James Phillips
11. William Norcross
Celtic's last match was the 3-1 home defeat to Workington, yesterday. In that match, we lined up as:
1. George Sykes-Kenworthy
2. Harrison Holgate
3. Braulio Maeico
4. Greg Wilkinson
5. Luke Ashworth
6. Liam Dickinson
7. Jake Charles
8. Oli Roberts
9. Brice Pouamoun
10. Matty Wolfenden
11. Connor Hughes
Ross Killock, Tom Brown, Jack Taylor and Alex Honeyball are all out for the season, whilst Harrison Holgate's loan deal does not allow him to play two days in succession. Danny Morton missed the match due to work commitments. Otherwise, such as it is, Celtic will have a full squad.
A win would move us above Whitby and possibly Coalville if Workington beat them, whilst this is the lowest we can finish this season. However, this is game eight in twelve days and the players have had only five days rest since the start of the fortnight from hell two Saturdays ago when we lost at Stourbridge. It's a punishing schedule.
Other games on Thursday:Table |
P | Pts | |
5 | Farsley Celtic | 45 | 77 |
---|---|---|---|
6 | Shaw Lane | 45 | 76 |
7 | Witton Albion | 45 | 67 |
8 | Buxton | 45 | 63 |
9 | Barwell | 45 | 63 |
Thu 26 Apr 2018 | Stalybridge Celtic | 5-0 |
Tue 24 Apr 2018 | Farsley Celtic | 1-4 |
Sat 21 Apr 2018 | Rushall Olympic | 0-0 |
Thu 19 Apr 2018 | Marine | 2-2 |
Sat 14 Apr 2018 | Stafford Rangers | 1-2 |
Goal Scorers | H | A | 1st | 2nd | Total | |
1 | Tames, Steve | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 23 |
2 | Hopley, Robert | 12 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 21 |
3 | Jones, William | 4 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 12 |
4 | Owens, Thomas | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
5 | Dale, Owen | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Home win | Shaw Lane | 4-0 | Sat 17th Mar |
Away win | Sutton Coldfield Town | 2-6 | Sat 23rd Dec |
Home defeat | Farsley Celtic | 1-4 | Tue 24th Apr |
Away defeat | Lancaster City | 4-0 | Tue 26th Sep |
Home score | Coalville Town | 5-2 | Sat 14th Oct |
Away score | Sutton Coldfield Town | 2-6 | Sat 23rd Dec |
Games Since... | Overall | Home | Away |
Last Scored | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Last Conceded | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Last Won | 7 | 3 | 6 |
Last Drew | 1 | 1 | 2 |