On Saturday, Celtic travel to Staffordshire to face Stafford Rangers. Stafford are currently eighth in the league on twenty-seven points, eleven places and twelve points ahead of Celtic. Kick off 3pm.

Stafford are level on points with Marine in fifth, with Marine having scored five more goals. They are three points (and eight goals) behind second placed FC United, so a win for Stafford could propel them into the top five, with third spot a distinct possibility. With four losses all season, Stafford are remarkably consistent. September and October saw them register two wins, with five draws and four losses, keeping them out of the play-off spots, but November started with their seventh win of the season away at Lancaster, beating the league’s other capital team 2-1. Stafford’s last two home games were both draws with Hyde and Guiseley. They have only lost one home game, back in August when Belper beat them 2-1.

Ten of Stafford’s twenty-four goals were scored by Thomas Tonks and Kaimon Anderson, both with five each. Thirteen of those goals came at home at a rate of 1.6 goals per game, from 1.4 overall giving them the fifth best home attack. They have the fifth best home defence in the league, conceding eight of their twenty goals at home at a rate of a goal per game from 1.2 overall. They have scored in every home game this season, failing to score in one match (a goalless draw at Gainsborough), though they have kept two of their four clean sheets at home, and have conceded in all their last five matches.

In the last thirty years, we’ve visited Stafford twelve times, only ever in the league. We have won three of them, most recently in 2010, when we beat them 3-1, with goals from Connor Jennings, Phil Marsh and a Tim Ryan penalty leaving the second half Stafford goal a consolation. That came at the end of a good spell away at Stafford, with both our other wins in 2009, firstly a 2-0 thanks to early goals in each half by Matty Barlow and Connor Jennings and the other a 1-0 after a Keith Briggs power run. Stafford won Celtic’s last visit in February 2022, beating us 2-0 after we’d won the reverse fixture. Stafford have won 6 of the twelve encounters, with three draws.

In Stafford’s last match, the 2-1 away win over Lancaster, Stafford lined up as:
1. Cameron Belford
2. Andrew Burns
3. Joe Dunne
4. Jack Baxter
5. Derek Ubah
6. Louis Morrison
7. Alex Kiwomya
8. Thomas Tonks
9. Ntumba Massanka
10. Alex Ray-Harvey
11. Jaiden White

In Celtic’s last match, the 2-1 loss at home to FC United, Celtic lined up as:
1. Greg Hall
2. Kyle Harrison
3. Matty Carson
4. Scott Holding
5. Dahrius Waldron
6. Tom Miller
7. Raheem Hanley
8. Godwin Abadaki
9. Raul Correia
10. Chris Dagnall
11. Nathan Caine

Greg Hall came off injured against FC United with concussion. He should be fine for Saturday’s encounter with Stafford. Harry Benns also made the bench against FC United. Stafford have a few recognisable faces, like Ray-Harvey, Ntumba Massanka and Derek Ubah, whilst Theo Bailey-Jones will be familiar to Stafford.