On Saturday, Celtic face Hednesford Town at Bower Fold (kick off 3pm). Hednesford are currently eighth in the league on forty-nine points, eighteen points and fourteen places above Celtic, though they have played four more games. There will be a match centre and Twitter feed for this game.
Hednesford lost their most recent match; beaten at home by Barwell 2-3. However, that was the only loss since Shaw Lane beat them at home at the end of December. Hednesford are unbeaten on the road in their last six, winning three of them, most recently beating Farsley 3-1. The last time they lost on the road was to Halesowen back in October, when they lost 2-1. Overall, they have won six of their fifteen away games, and drawn two.
Perennial thorn in Celtic's side, Danny Glover, is Hednesford's top scorer so far this season, with nine. James Lawrie is closest to him on six, though Hednesford have had eighteen different scorers. On average, they score 1.5 goals per game on the road (1.4 overall), whilst conceding 1.9 goals per game on the road (1.5 overall). They have kept two away clean sheets (eight in total) and failed to score three times on the road (out of five). In total, they've netted twenty-three away from home, exactly half of their forty-six goals. They have conceded twenty-eight away, which is about two thirds of their forty-seven goals.
We have already played Hednesford this season when we went to Keys Park in November and lost 2-1, with Oli Roberts getting an equaliser that Danny Glover cancelled out deep into stoppage time. Hednesford's last visit to Bower Fold was in December 2015, when both teams were in the Conference North, with Celtic running out 4-2 winners in that match, with goals from Danny Burns, Dale Wright, Adam Farrell and John Shaw enough to ease past the visitors on that day. Hednesford's last win at Bower Fold was the season before, when they beat us 5-0. In seven visits here, Celtic have won two and lost four, with a draw back in 1997.
Hednesford's last match was the 3-2 defeat at home to Barwell. In that match, they lined up as:
1. James Wren
2. Callam Mendez-Jones
3. Matt Curley
4. James Fitzpatrick
5. Samuel Oji
6. Charlie Gatter
7. Mason Walsh
8. Thomas Thorley
9. Danny Glover
10. James Lawrie
11. Jordan Graham
Celtic's last match was the 1-0 away win at Warrington Town. In that match, we lined up as:
1. Jack Walton
2. Danny Morton
3. Alex Honeyball
4. Tom Brown
5. Luke Ashworth
6. Ross Killock
7. Theo Bailey-Jones
8. Oli Roberts
9. Liam Dickinson
10. Matty Wolfenden
11. Connor Hughes
Celtic were without Greg Wilkinson, Oliver Crowley and Josh Ramsden through illness, whilst Chris Gallagher was unavailable. All four should be available for selection, whilst Theo Bailey-Jones strained ligaments against Warrington and will have to be assessed.
Celtic have now won our last two matches, and will be looking to build on that, whilst Hednesford need a win to keep their play-off push alive. A win for Celtic could narrow the gap between us and those immediately above us, whilst a loss (and a Marine win) would see us drop a place. Hednesford's form is good, with only two losses in the last ten, but have Celtic turned the corner with one loss in the last six?
Other matches this weekend:
Altrincham (63pts 1st) v Sutton Coldfield Town (26pts 24th)
Barwell (49pts 7th) v Ashton United (53pts 5th)
Coalville Town (40pts 16th) v Lancaster City (41pts 12th)
Farsley Celtic (51pts 6th) v Stafford Rangers (38pts 17th)
Marine (29pts 22nd) v Halesowen Town (26pts 23rd)
Matlock Town (38pts 18th) v Witton Albion (45pts 10th)
Rushall Olympic (37pts 19th) v Workington (46pts 9th)
Stourbridge (40pts 14th) v Buxton (40pts 15th)
Warrington Town (54pts 4th) v Mickleover Sports (41pts 11th)
Whitby Town (36pts 20th) v Nantwich Town (41pts 13th)
Table |
P | Pts | |
6 | Farsley Celtic | 34 | 54 |
---|---|---|---|
7 | Barwell | 34 | 50 |
8 | Hednesford Town | 33 | 50 |
9 | Witton Albion | 32 | 48 |
10 | Workington | 30 | 46 |
Sat 17 Feb 2018 | Stalybridge Celtic | 2-2 |
Sat 10 Feb 2018 | Barwell | 2-3 |
Sat 03 Feb 2018 | Farsley Celtic | 3-1 |
Sat 27 Jan 2018 | Whitby Town | 0-0 |
Sat 13 Jan 2018 | Coalville Town | 1-1 |
Goal Scorers | H | A | 1st | 2nd | Total | |
1 | Glover, Danny | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
2 | Lawrie, James | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
3 | Graham, Jordan | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
4 | Thorley, Thomas | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
4= | Gatter, Charlie | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Home win | Sutton Coldfield Town | 3-0 | Sat 9th Sep |
Away win | Nantwich Town | 1-5 | Sat 6th Jan |
Home defeat | Altrincham | 0-3 | Tue 26th Sep |
Away defeat | Mickleover FC | 5-0 | Sat 23rd Sep |
Home score | Barwell | 2-3 | Sat 10th Feb |
Away score | Coalville Town | 5-2 | Tue 12th Sep |
Games Since... | Overall | Home | Away |
Last Scored | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Last Conceded | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Last Won | 2 | 4 | 1 |
Last Drew | 1 | 1 | 5 |