On Tuesday, Celtic welcome Marine to Bower Fold. Marine are currently sixth in the league on twenty points, nine points and twelve places above Celtic with a game in hand. Kick off 7:45pm with tickets available on the gate or online.

Though winning the same home and away, with only one home loss from five, Marine’s home form is better than their away form, where they have had two wins from seven. The two wins came from their games at Guiseley on the opening day (3-0) and, most recently in their last away game at Nantwich (2-1). Their last away defeat was at Warrington Rylands at the end of August, when they lost 1-0, since then, they have lost just once, at home to Radcliffe (1-0), with three away draws and two home wins to add to their win at Nantwich. Most recently, they beat Whitby Town at home 2-0.

Hayden Campbell is their top scorer so far this season, with six, but he’s not the only former Celt in Marine’s top scorers, with Jake Burton and Josh Solomon Davies both on two, and Callum Harris chipping in with one. On average Marine are scoring 1.3 goals per away game from 1.4 overall having found the net nine times on the road and eighteen overall failing to score in three games, one of which was on the road. Marine have the third best defence in the league, though four teams have scored fewer, Marine have played more games than Hyde, South Shields and Gainsborough. Of their ten conceded goals, seven have come away from home (only South Shields have conceded fewer at home), conceding at a rate of a goal per away game and 0.75 overall. They have kept one of their five clean sheets on the road.

In the past thirty-five years Marine have visited Bower Fold eighteen times, with two of those friendlies. Their most recent competitive visit saw them knock us out of the FA Cup in 2019 beating us 2-0. Their last league visit was a 3-2 win for Celtic, with a brace for Tom Brown and a sweet free kick from Liam Tongue. The season before, in 2017, was Marine’s last league win over us at Bower Fold, when they won 2-0. In their eighteen visits, Celtic have won ten, drawn three and lost five.

In Marine’s last league match, the 2-0 home win over Whitby, Marine lined up as:
1. Bayleigh Passant
2. Luke Clark
3. James Barrigan
4. Mark Howarth
5. Josh Wardle
6. Jonathan Spittle
7. Jordan Lussey
8. Charley Doyle
9. Connor Evans
10. Sol Solomon
11. Jack Dunn

In Celtic’s last match, the 2-1 away defeat to Ashton, Celtic lined up as:
1. Greg Hall
2. Tom Miller
3. Matty Carson
4. Scott Holding
5. Dahrius Waldron
6. Godwin Abadaki
7. Theo Bailey-Jones
8. Dylan Moonan
9. Raul Correia
10. Domaine Rouse
11. Osebi Abadaki

Kyle Harrison, Harry Benns and Ciaran Summers and Raheem Hanley were all missing for the Ashton match though injury. Four new players all made debuts, Matty Carson, Scott Holding, Dylan Moonan and Nathan Caine. Scott Holding’s red card will result in a one-match ban, on Saturday, so should be available for the Marine match. Celtic need a win, to avoid equalling a run of eight losses back in 1997/1998, when we lost to Halifax, Telford, Farnborough, Northwich twice, Southport, Gateshead (Trophy) and Woking, before finally getting a 2-2 draw with Leek. We have also lost the last seven league matches, equalling a record set in 2016 when losing to Stockport, Salford, Telford, Kidderminster, Gloucester, Chorley and Nuneaton before finally getting a win against Gainsborough. The website records do not cover a period with eight consecutive league losses.