On Saturday, Congleton roll into town after Celtic have had a week off. Congleton are currently third in the league on thirty-six points four places and three pints above Celtic. Kick-off 3pm.

After a poor start to the season saw them win four from their opening eleven matches, they have been unbeaten since mid-October, winning seven of their last nine. This has rocketed them from above the drop zone to within four points of top. The only points they have dropped this were away at Mossley (2-2) and at home to Newcastle (0-0). A lot of those nine games have been at home, and in their last six games, they have three wins, a draw and two losses, with their last loss being on the road to Witton, who put five past them.

Max McCarthy has moved into the league golden boot position with his twelve goals, scoring nearly a third of all Congleton’s goals this season, with Daniel Needham someway off with seven. Joe Duckworth will be hoping to score two more than McCarthy on Saturday, so he can go top of the chart. On average, Congleton score two goals a game away, with 1.95 overall, whilst conceding 2.1 goals per game away and 1.55 overall. Two of their six clean sheets were away, whilst they have failed to score once on the road, at the end of August when Runcorn won 1-0. They have scored in fourteen of their last fifteen matches.

This is Congleton’s first visit to Bower Fold to face Celtic, though the two teams have met a few times before, it’s always been in Congleton. We visited a few weeks ago and Congleton won 3-1, with Celtic winning the first half by a single Jordan Boon, but Congleton running riot in the second. That was our only league meeting, but we’ve met in the Cheshire Senior Cup four times, with three wins for Celtic with out last win in 2021, though the last meeting in 2023 was a win for Congleton.

In Congleton’s last match, the 4-2 home win over Clitheroe, Congleton lined up as:
1. David Parton
2. Marco Fregapane
3. Owen Morris
4. Peter Williams
5. Josh Ryder
6. Darren Chadwick
7. George Sankey
8. William Arnold
9. Matthew Gilliam
10. Ethan Hartshorn
11. Daniel Needham

In Celtic’s last match, the 3-0 home win over Witton, Celtic lined up as:
1. Charlie Monks
2. Jordan Butterworth
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Brandon Newell
5. Jack Tinning
6. Aaron Chalmers
7. Max Leonard
8. Liam Tongue
9. Lewis Rawthorn
10. Jack Irlam
11. Greg Wilkinson

Celtic have the leakiest defence in the league, so the clean sheet in our last game was a welcome boost. Joe Duckworth will be back after his double yellow against Chasetown, giving Jon Macken an almost full squad to choose from and with Elliott Rokka joining, the goal scoring side looks sorted.