On Tuesday, Celtic host the re-arranged fixture, with Scarborough the visitors, instead of Celtic visiting Yorkshire, they are visiting us (kick off 7:45pm).

Scarborough finished eighth last season, having played more games than any other team (35). They’d had a cracking 2020 until the lockdown, winning 6 of their dozen games in 2020. They’d had a dreadful start, with only one win (over FC United in August) until October, when they were unbeaten. It didn’t last, and November saw them lose four of their five games. Though they were heading in the right direction and were 3 points off fifth, with eight games in hand on them, Morpeth looked the more likely to snatch the last play-off spot. Having played two more games than Celtic, Scarborough finished eight points and four places above us.

Their top scorer last season was James Walshaw, who has now left the club. He’d found the net 16 times last season, helping Athletic to 44 goals in total (17 away) scored at a rate of 1.3 goals per game (0.9 on the road), failing to score in 9 matches (6 away), with 3 of those failures to score coming in their last 5 away matches, most recently, a 2-0 defeat away at Ashton. They had the worst goal difference of any team in the top ten, with -3. They conceded 47 goals in total (35 on the road), at a rate of 1.3 goals overall and 1.9 per away game and they kept 3 clean sheets on their travels from 8 overall, the most recent being in their final game of the season, when they beat Basford 1-0.

This season, they’re yet to play at home, having started the season with a 2-0 win over Atherton and a goalless draw at FC United meaning their defence has yet to concede a goal, while both their goals have come from Nathan Cartman against Atherton.

In their current guise (the previous club went under), we’ve met Scarborough four times in the past two seasons. Their last visit here, at the start of last season, was a comprehensive rout for Celtic, beating them 5-1 with Craig Hobson, Kallum Mantack, Ross Dent, Declan Walker and Liam MacDevitt all finding the net. Our last meeting saw Celtic take a single goal lead from Darius Osei into the break, but a wonder goal from Ryan Watson midway through the second half shared the points. Scarborough’s first visit here, two years ago, saw them win 3-2 thanks to a dubious penalty, Scott Wilson and Matty Wolfenden’s goals not enough. There was a measure of revenge on the return leg, with Josh Solomon-Davies getting a late, late winner after Scott Bakkor had levelled with three minutes remaining.

In Scarborough’s last match, the goalless draw at FC United, they lined up as:
1. Ryan Whitley
2. Josh Barrett
3. Dylan Cogill
4. Bailey Gooda
5. Harry Coates
6. Will Thornton
7. Ashley Jackson
8. Neal Bishop
9. Nathan Cartman
10. Kieran Glynn
11. Ryan Watson

In Celtic’s last match, the 3-0 defeat away at Nantwich, Celtic lined up as:
1. Tom Stewart
2. Kallum Mantack
3. Freddie Sass
4. Scott Sephton
5. Tom Wilson
6. Luke Barlow
7. Keano Deacon
8. Damani Holness
9. Lewis Salmon
10. Charley Doyle
11. Jonathon Ustabasi

Having had a draw and a loss, hopefully, Celtic can reproduce the form that saw Celtic beat Scarborough 5-1 last season and get our first victory of the 20/21 campaign.