On Saturday, Weather permitting, Celtic make our longest trip of the season when we travel to Morpeth. Kick off 3pm. Please check before traveling the game is on. Morpeth are currently two points and one place behind us, in eighteenth, looking to leap-frog us with a win, though they have two games in hand.

In their opening ten games, Morpeth won six and lost four putting them among the play off spots in third. However, from October until the end of the year, Morpeth won just once, beating Stafford Rangers, and failed to win until mid-Jan when they beat Gainsborough. This gave them a season record run without a win of ten games and a second unwanted record of going six games without scoring. It’s been their away form that caused them issues, winning three, drawing three and losing eleven of seventeen matches. At home they have a better record, with eight wins, a draw and seven losses from sixteen matches. Their last home match at the end of February saw them beat Nantwich 2-1, and in their last five home matches, they have won three and lost two, the last loss seeing Liversedge win 2-0.

That 2-0 home loss was the first time Morpeth have drawn a blank at home in since January, having scored in all the remaining games of their last seven. Their top scorer is Connor Thomson with seven, ahead of the chasing pack of four players on four goals. In total, Morpeth have scored forty-nine goals this season, at a rate of 1.3 goals per game, twenty-five of these came at home at a rate of 1.6 goals per game, putting them in the top ten home attacks. They’re also in the top ten home defences, conceding a total of nineteen goals at home this season (from a total of forty-nine) at a rate of 1.2 goals per game, 1.5 overall. They have kept four of their six clean sheets at home, two of which have come in 2023 most recently to Atherton and the other to Gainsborough. They have failed to score six of their twelve blanks at home, most recently to Liversedge.

We’ve met Morpeth four times. They visited Bower Fold and beat us 3-0 in the last game before their form dipped. Our last and only visit to Morpeth saw us draw 1-1 with Raul Correia getting the equaliser three minutes after Johnson took the lead while Morpeth were the in-form team in the league. With the truncated seasons before that, they made two visits to Bower Fold, with Celtic winning both games, 2-0 and 3-1.

In Morpeth’s last match, the 2-1 away defeat with Marske, Morpeth lined up as:
1. Dan Lowson
2. Josh Robson
3. Connor Pye
4. Ryan Donaldson
5. Jeff Henderson
6. Michael Turner
7. Matty Cornish
8. Ben Sayer
9. Jack Foalle
10. Ben Ramsey
11. Andrew Johnson

In Celtic’s last league match, the 2-1 home win over Belper, Celtic lined up as:
1. Joseph O’Shaughnessy
2. Kyle Harrison
3. Luke Barlow
4. Tom Miller
5. Danny Burns
6. Domaine Rouse
7. Theo Bailey-Jones
8. Godwin Abadaki
9. Raul Correia
10. Chris Dagnall
11. Harry Benns

Celtic still have a few injury concerns, without Nathan Caine and Greg Hall, plus Ciaran Summers missed the last match. DJ Pedro should be available after his suspension.

A win for Celtic could see us overtake either Ashton or Atherton as they play each other and go sixteenth (fifteenth if it’s a draw) and edge towards mathematical safety. A loss would see Morpeth overtake us and allow the bottom four to come within reach if Nantwich beat Gainsborough Trinity. It’s an important game.