On Good Friday, Celtic are at home to face Vauxhall Motors. Vauxhall are currently in the play-offs in third, on seventy-two points, seven points and three places above Celtic. Kick off 3pm.

Two draws in their last two games saw Vauxhall lose top play-off spot to Hednesford. Technically, Celtic can still overtake Vauxhall, but it’s a miraculous task to do so. Vauxhall only need a draw against Celtic to guarantee a play-off spot. Draws away from home aren’t a speciality of Vauxhall. Instead, they win. They have won twelve away games, and only Hednesford can match that, with nobody better away from home. As the season draws to a close, Vauxhall are having a bit of a wobble, drawing their last two matches, and losing two, drawing one and winning two of their last five away matches. Motor’s last away game was a win at Clitheroe, but they lost the previous two to Avro and Chasetown. In their last twelve matches overall, they have won four, drawn four and lost four.

With thirty-four away goals, Motors have the fourth best away attack, and the fifth best away attack overall with seventy-one goals scored. Away and home, they score at a rate of 1.8 goals per game, only failing to score twice on the road (six times overall), and have kept seven of their twelve clean sheets while travelling, conceding twenty-four of their fifty-one goals away, at a rate of 1.3 goals per game (home and away). Nick Rushton is making a bid for the league’s golden boot with eighteen goals so far this season, only two behind Trafford’s Rio Clegg. Kevin Ellison and Connor Rankin have both chipped in with double figure goal tallies, with twelve and eleven respectively. Ellison and Rankin are both something of late goal specialists, snatching the points at the death for Vauxhall, and they have scored twelve goals after the eighty-five minute mark.

Vauxhall beat us at their place earlier in the season, in a contentious match with a red card for Javid Swaby-Neavin that video evidence showed wasn’t, and two early goals from the home side, which Celtic nearly came back from, only to lose to a last minute winner from Motors. Previous visits from Vauxhall don’t bode well for Celtic’s chances, with their last two visits both wins for the Motormen, 2-1 in 2023 and 1-0 in 2020 in the Cheshire senior cup. You have to go back to 2014 in the Conference North for Celtic’s last win over Vauxhall, winning 3-1 in Ellesmere Port, after twice beating them earlier in the season with a 3-0 home win in the FA Trophy and a 3-2 in the league. Overall in the last 20 visits, Celtic have won ten, Vauxhall seven and there have been three draws.

In Vauxhall Motor’s last match, the 1-1 home draw with Witton Albion, Vauxhall lined up as:
1. Alex Swindell
2. Joshua Solomon-Davies
3. Tyler Hill
4. Adam Rooney
5. Adam Hughes
6. Vita Mbolokele
7. Ben Holmes
8. Paddy Kay
9. Connor Rankin
10. Nick Rushton
11. Kevin Ellison

In Celtic’s last match the 2-0 away win over Wythenshawe Town, Celtic lined up as:
1. Charlie Monks
2. Javid Swaby-Neavin
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Jordan Butterworth
5. Sean Tse
6. Jack Tinning
7. Max Leonard
8. Liam Tongue
9. Lewis Rawsthorn
10. Joe Duckworth
11. Jack Irlam

Max Leonard’s yellow against Wythenshawe means he has a three-match ban, for accumulation.

Effectively, Celtic are still the only non-play-off team capable of catching any of the teams in it. Five behind Chasetown, six on Congleton, and seven on Vauxhall, though with Runcorn playing Congleton, they’ll fancy their chances, but would have to overcome a difference of twenty goals for the goal-difference. A loss for Celtic, marks the end of the play-off chances, as we would be able to reach seventy-one. But a win…