Celtic get back on the horse on Tuesday to face bottom of the league, Belper Town after both teams suffered heavy defeats on Saturay. Kick off 7:45pm.

Belper have struggled to adapt to their first season in the Norther Premier League after their promotion, having won one match (away at Stafford) and drawn one match (at home to Warrington). They changed their manager to Steve Kittrick ahead of defeat to Ashton, and he’s seen nine goals conceded and one scored in his two matches in charge. With eight defeats from ten, and four points, they’re rooted to the foot of the table. Their last match saw them succumb to a 5-1 away defeat by Bamber Bridge (here’s hoping for similar from the league’s other ‘Bridge). Their last home match saw Ashton put four past them without reply. Like Gainsborough prior to Celtic’s visit, Belper have not won at home this season (here’s hoping we don’t end that run, too!).

Belper have conceded in every match this season, their twenty-eight conceded goals (sixteen at home) gives them the worst defence in the league, home, away and overall. On average, they concede 3.2 goals per game at home, and 2.8 overall. Their top scorer, with three, is Brodie Litchfield, with three other goal-scorers this season finding the net seven times in total (which is twice more than Celtic). Belper have scored three times at home, with Luke Mangham the only other player to find the net there apart from Litchfield. From their four failures to score, two of them were at home, most recently in their last match, the 2-0 defeat by Ashton.

The only time these two teams have met in the last thirty years (at least), was in 2020, when we played Belper in a friendly at Bower Fold. That game finished 2-2. This will be our first visit (in so far as the website’s records go), to Belper.

In Belper’s last match, the 5-1 away defeat by Bam Bridge, Belper lined up as:
1. Max Culverwell
2. Ben Middleton
3. Ben Rhodes
4. Harry Middleton
5. Tom Wilson
6. Todd Jordan
7. Derry Robson
8. Kyle Dixon
9. Luke Mangham
10. Ali Elkossi
11. Brodie Litchfield

In Celtic’s last match, the 4-0 away defeat to Gainsborough Trinity, Celtic lined up as:
1. Greg Hall
2. Tom Miller
3. Louis Danquah
4. Luke Hinsley
5. Dahrius Waldron
6. Godwin Abadaki
7. Theo Bailey-Jones
8. Ethan Padden
9. Raul Correia
10. Moses Yoak
11. Domaine Rouse

Celtic were without Ciaran Summers, Kyle Harrison and Ozzie Abadaki against Gainsborough. Godwin Abadaki’s suspension starts ahead of our game on Saturday, and he will be available for selection on Tuesday.