On Saturday Celtic are at home in the FA Trophy with Lower Breck the visitors. Lower Breck are currently fourteenth in the league, though have played three games fewer than Celtic. Kick-off 3pm.

Continued involvement in the FA Cup and FA Trophy has meant Lower Breck falling behind a little in the games played. In the FA Cup, they started with a 3-2 home win over Euxton Villa and followed that up most recently with a 5-1 home win over Thornaby. In order to face us in the FA Trophy, they had a 4-0 home win over North Ferriby, making this their first away cup game of the season. However, in the league, they’ve won two, lost two. Their opening games saw a 4-1 home win over Lichfield, followed by a 1-0 away win at Clitheroe. Most recently, they lost 3-2 away at Runcorn and 4-0 at home to Bootle.

Last season, they finished fifth and went out to Avro in the playoffs. They had three players in the top ten goalscorers, Sam Burns, Lewis Buckley, and Alex Cherera. This put them joint third overall in the best attacks, though their defence was mid-table. They scored an average of 2.1 goals per game, whilst conceding 1.7 goals away from home (1.5 overall), keeping 3 of their ten clean sheets on the road, and failing to score five times while away (seven overall).

We met Lower Breck for the first time about this point last season, also in the FA Trophy, when Breck knocked us out, beating us 3-0. They then beat us 2-1 away from home in the league, with Jordan Butterworth grabbing Celtic’s goal. Their last visit to Bower Fold finished 2-0 to Celtic, with goals from Jack Irlam and Ellis Horan.

In Lower Breck’s last league match, the 4-0 defeat at home to Bootle, Breck lined up as:
1. Alex Brown
2. Liam Morris
3. Danny McKenna
4. Bohan Dixon
5. Jack Hont
6. Jak McCourt
7. Alex Cherera
8. Lucas Wilson
9. Luke Gill
10. Sam Burns
11. Elliott Hughes

In Celtic’s last match, the 5-0 away win at Lichfield, Celtic lined up as:
1. Charlie Monks
2. Charlie Doyle
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Josh Granite
5. Fortune Maphosa
6. Cam Fogerty
7. Andy Scarisbrick
8. Liam Tongue
9. Ellis Horan
10. Jack Irlam
11. Obua Mugalula

Celtic have brought in Fortune Maphosa to bolster the backline. Lewis Rawsthorn got some minutes under his belt against Lichfield, and should be in contention for the FA Trophy match.