On Saturday, Celtic have one last long trip of the season as we travel to the North East to face South Shields. South Shields are currently second on seventy-two two points behind league leaders Buxton, fifteen places and twenty-seven points above Celtic. Please note, there will not be a match centre for this game.

Apart from a slight blip in February South Shields have been in the top two all season and have not lost at home since early December when Hyde beat them 2-1. Their only other two home losses were both in October, when Buxton and Basford both beat them 1-0. Whilst their away form is less impressive, their home form has seen them win fourteen, draw twice and lose three. Their last two home matches have seen South Shields beat Stafford and Bamber Bridge. Since losing to Hyde, they have played 8 matches at home and won them all, putting them top of the home games form table. Their last match saw them draw 1-1 away at Gainsborough.

Jonathan Hooper is South Shields’s top scorer on ten goals, one ahead of former Celtic forward, Darius Osei. On average, at home, they score 2.2 goals per game (1.7 overall) and have failed to score twice (eight times overall). Defensively, they have kept five clean sheets at home (from ten overall) and concede a goal per game both home and away. Shields have the second best attack behind Buxton, and the fourth best defence, although their home defensive record is the eighth best in the league, with seven other teams having conceded fewer at home.

We have never beaten South Shields, though we’ve given them a few scares over our six meetings. They visited Bower Fold in the second game of the season, with Ioan Evans unable to overturn goal from Darius Osei, Ntumba Massanka and Callum Ross. Our best result came in their previous visit, towards the end of the 19/20 season, when we equalised twice through Darius Osei to record a draw. Our last visit to South Shields saw possibly the most dubious penalty ever awarded gave Shields all three points deep into stoppage time after Chris Smalley had given Celtic the lead. The previous visit, in December 2018, came as Shields had been on a fifty-plus winning streak. Neil Kengni twice gave Celtic the lead in the North East, only for a cross from Josh Gillies to take a wicked turn, bounce awkwardly in front of Jake Turner, over his head and into the goal.

South Shields’s last match, the 1-1 away draw with Gainsborough Trinity, saw South Shields line up as:
1. Myles Boney
2. Jordan Hunter
3. Blair Adam
4. Jon Shaw
5. Dillon Morse
6. Jack Bodenham
7. Sam Wilding
8. Robert Briggs
9. Sam Hodgson
10. Will McGowan
11. Darius Osei

In Celtic’s last match, the 0-2 home loss to Radcliffe, Celtic lined up as:
1. Grant Shenton
2. Douglas Nyaupembe
3. Stephen Brogan
4. Sam Wedgbury
5. Keenan Quansah
6. Derek Ubah
7. Jake Burton
8. Charley Doyle
9. Raul Correia
10. Ethan Padden
11. Sam McLintock

Mathematically, Celtic can still finish in the bottom two, but if Celtic win, that changes and would leave Celtic mathematically safe and possibly lift us to thirteenth. The same is true if Witton lose to Lancaster in Lancaster. A loss for Celtic could see Celtic drop into the bottom three though, if Basford (at home to Matlock), Gainsborough (at home to Mickleover) and Radcliffe (at home to Whitby) all win. Radclfife would go ahead of us if they draw. A draw for Celtic could see us jump two places to fifteenth, if Nantwich at home to Atherton is not a draw and Hyde lose at home to Bamber Bridge.