Celtic are away on Saturday when we travel to Gainsborough Trinity for the Conference North clash (Kick off 3pm, there will be a Match Centre for this game). Gainsborough are currently tenth in the Conference North, five points and five places behind Celtic, having played two games more.

Gainsborough have had a reasonable start to this season?s campaign, but have only won one home match this season, a 4-1 win over Redditch back in September. Their other five wins this season have come away from the Northolme, including their last match, a great 3-0 win away at Harrogate. Gainsborough have had four draws at home, three of them goalless, with two more goalless draws away from home at Hyde and Tamworth.

Our previous visits to Gainsborough have rarely been profitable, and you have to go back to November 1999 for our last victory there. Our last meeting, though, was at Bower Fold in October 2007, when we battered Gainsborough 5-0. That wasn?t our best result over the Nottingham based side, though, as we beat them 7-1 back in 2000. Since 1988, we have played fifteen competitive matches at Gainsborough, won three, lost four and drawn eight, whilst Gainsborough have beaten us once in fifteen attempts at Bower Fold, losing eleven.

Gainsborough are a second half team. They have scored twenty-six goals this season, with fourteen of these goals in the second period of play. They concede mainly in the second half also, with fourteen of their twenty-one goals against coming in the second period and ten of those in the last ten minutes. The hour mark is their most dangerous period, with nine of their goals coming in the fifteen minutes around the hour. Their top scorer this season is Simon Bird, whose eight goals put him in the top ten strikers in the league. Lewis McMahon is his closest rival on six. Between them, they have half of Gainsborough?s goals. On average, then, they score a goal per game at home (1.4 overall), whilst conceding 1.2 goals per game; they have kept seven clean sheets, and failed to score in seven (five at home) games.

Gainsborough have just signed Huddersfield striker Luke Beckett until the end of the season, and he scored on his debut away at Harrogate Town. Going the other way, Adam Smith has gone on loan to York City. Gainsborough are sweating on the fitness of Adam Sollit (back strain), Ross Greenwood (disrupted retina) and Liam Needham (groin strain) ahead of the game. Goalkeeper cover comes from loanee (from Sheffield Wednesday) stand in Aaron Jameson, keeping a clean sheet on his debut, and in the 3-0 away win over Harrogate. In that game, Gainsborough lined up as:
1. Aaron Jameson
2. Ross Greenwood
3. Martin Drury
4. Neil Spafford
5. James Lukic
6. Danny Anson
7. Gareth Davies
8. Ian Ross
9. Luke Beckett
10. Lewis McMahon
11. Chris Hall

Celtic have had an extra week?s rest thanks to the postponement of their match on Saturday at home to Farsley due to fog. The extra week should allow more time for Keith Briggs to get back to full fitness. The team that was due to line up against Farsley was:
1. Paul Phillips
2. Ashley Woolliscroft
3. Rhys Meynell
4. Tom Sharpe
5. Terry Barwick
6. Barrie Keeling
7. Richard Battersby
8. Nicky Platt
9. Andy Smart
10. Nathan Joynes
11. Chris Williams

The automated prediction algorithm has gone for a 3-1 win for Celtic in this one, with Celtic having lost one away in the last six, and Gainsborough having won just once in the last six at home. With Telford and Southport playing each other, we can catch up on at least one of the four teams above us. Harrogate are away at Droylsden, and Tamworth are at home to Solihull, so there are chances for upsets there. With Hinckley hosting Hucknall and Gateshead away at Farsley, Celtic would need a win to stay ahead of these two as we are just one point ahead of Hinckley and Gateshead at the moment.