After Celtic’s exit from the FA Trophy on Tuesday night, we are back in league action when we travel to Nottingham to face Basford United. Basford are currently two places and one point ahead of Celtic in 10th, though we have a game in hand. Kick-off 3pm.

Through August and September, Basford lost only two of their eleven games, drawing four and winning five. They won every game in September. 

In their last nine games, they have won two drawn one and lost six. Their last win was a 2-0 home win over Hyde. Their last home match was a 1-1 draw with Whitby, whilst their last two matches have both been away losses, 1-0 at Bamber Bridge and 2-1 at Morpeth. This string of losses has seen them drop from the edge of the play-offs to their current mid-table slot.

Though they have kept seven clean sheets this season, their last one was one of four home clean sheets coming at home to Hyde, whilst of the five failures to score, three have been in their last ten matches, the most recent being away at Bamber Bridge, although their most recent failure to score at home was at the start of October when FC United beat them 1-0. 

In their last four home matches, they have scored once in three of them and scored twice against Hyde. They are scoring an average of a goal per game overall and 1.1 per game at home. Defensively, they are conceding 1.2 overall and a goal per game at home. 

Their top scorer this season is Aaron O’Connor who has found the net four times, only slightly ahead of three other players on three each: Kane Richards, Brad Gascoigne, and Matt Thornhill (who scored their last goal away at Morpeth).

Historically, we have lost every match against Basford, including the one early this season, when Basford beat us 2-0 at Bower Fold. We managed to play them last season as one of our nine games when they won 1-0, whilst we played them twice in the first curtailed season, losing 3-0 away and 3-2 at home.

In Basford’s last match, the 2-1 loss away at Morpeth, Basford lined up as:
1. Adam Collin
2. Owen Betts
3. Ryan Wilson
4. Dominic Roma
5. Brad Gascoigne
6. Declan Dunn
7. Terry Hawkridge
8. Matthew Thornhill
9. Niall Towle
10. Kane Richards
11. Aaron O’Connor

Celtic’s last match was the 1-0 away defeat at in the Trophy at Farsley, in which we lined up as:
1. Will Huffer
2. Josh Dawodu
3. Stephen Brogan
4. Sam Wedgbury
5. Connor O’Grady
6. Keenan Quansah
7. Jake Burton
8. Charley Doyle
9. Scott Bakkor
10. Adam O’Reilly
11. Hayden Campbell

A win for Celtic would see us leapfrog Basford in the table, with a possibility of getting as high as seventh. A loss could see us drop three places. Justin Johnson missed out on the trophy tie but should be in contention for Basford, whilst Callum Harris got twenty minutes after returning from injury.

The teams around us:
Stafford (7th) away at Matlock (2nd)
Scarborough (8th) at home to Buxton (4th)
FC United (9th) at home to Whitby (5th)
Atherton (11th) at home to Witton (16th)
Lancaster (13th) away at Warrington (6th)
Radcliffe (14th) at home to Gainsborough (18th)

This is a good chance for Celtic to climb the table and narrow the gap on the play-off spots. However, we have to do something we’ve never done before: beat Basford.