On Saturday, Celtic face Bradford Park Avenue in the FA Trophy. Bradford Park Avenue are currently third in our sister league, the NPL 1st Division East. Kick off 3pm.

Bradford had an excellent start to this season, winning their opening three league matches and have already knocked one Tameside club from a national cup competition when they beat Mossley, at Mossley, in the FA Cup Preliminary round. They won that game 4-0. This adds to their 3-1 away win opening the season at Guisborough, a 2-1 away at Stocksbridge Park Steels and, most recently, they also won their opening home match of the season, beating Hallam 4-1. Marcus Carver is already on five goals for this season, having scored in three of Avenue’s opening games. Their only clean sheet this season was at Mossley, meaning they’ve scored thirteen goals so far this season, conceding three.

It’s been a while since the two teams last met competitively. Avenue’s last visit to Bower Fold came in the conference north in 2017, in which Celtic the game swung in both teams favour several times, ending up 4-3 to Celtic, with Aaron Chalmers, Danny Pilkington, James Roberts, and (netting a late winner, Porya Ahmadi). Earlier in the season, Celtic won in Bradford, Gary Gee snatching a single goal. Bradford’s last win at Bower Fold was in 2015, when they won 1-0. Since the turn of the millennium, we have played nine times at Bower Fold, with Celtic winning four, Avenue two and there have been three draws.

In Bradford PA’s last match, the 4-1 home win over Hallam, Avenue lined up as:
1. Declan Lambton
2. Kareem Hassan-Smith
3. Charlie Winfield
4. Scott Duxbury
5. Rudy Misambo
6. Jameel Ible
7. Prince Ekpolo
8. Adriano Moke
9. Marcus Carver
10. Luke Parkin
11. Robbie Fox

In Celtic’s last match, the 2-1 away defeat to Clitheroe, Celtic lined up as:
1. Charlie Monks
2. Charlie Doyle
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Josh Granite
5. Jack Byrne
6. Cam Fogerty
7. Andy Scarisbrick
8. Liam Tongue
9. Obua Mugalula
10. Jack Irlam
11. Ellis Horan

Celtic’s record in cup competitions in recent years doesn’t bear thinking about. But each season fresh fixtures present us with a chance to progress. This will be a touch match against a team on a confidence high, while Celtic are looking at a growing injury list.