Saturday's visitors to the Fold are Histon. They are currently eighteenth in the table, on seven points, four points and eleven places behind seventh placed Celtic. There will be a match centre for this game.
Only Droylsden and Corby have conceded more goals than Histon, and then only by one goal. Despite beating Hinckley away 1-0 and Gloucester City at home 2-1, Histon have conceded eighteen goals in four games, including a 6-0 away loss at Boston, and a 5-0 away loss at Altrincham. That makes eleven goals conceded away from home. No other team has conceded more away from home. One team has conceded the same number – Celtic, but we've played one more away game.
We've met Histon twice, both last season. Thanks to an heroic performance by the stand-in goalkeeper in Histon, Celtic only won 1-0, following this up in November with a 2-0 home win. Last season, Histon finished sixteenth with fifty-one points, ten places and twenty points behind sixth placed Celtic.
This season, they do not have a top scorer, with five different players all scoring one goal each. Three of their scored five goals have been in the dying moments of the game, whilst they concede most heavily around the 75 minute mark, with a third of their conceded goals going in during this period. They have scored five goals at a rate of 0.7 goals a game (0.33 away) and have conceded nineteen goals at a rate of 2.7 goals a game (3.67 away).
Histon have no suspension worries ahead of the game, with goalkeeper Joe Melling's suspension for his sending off against Harrogate not kicking in until next week. They also appear to be injury free. In their last match, the 1-3 home defeat to Harrogate Town, Histon lined up as:
1. Joe Mellings
2. Grant Roberts
3. Harri Hawkins
4. Jay Dowie
5. Ian Gayl
6. Danny Fitzsimons
7. Jack Eades
8. Adrian Sear
9. Kaine Sheppard
10. Junior Konadu
11. Claudiu Hoban
Celtic's last match, prior to the friendly with Manchester United on Tuesday night, saw Celtic go 4-3 away at Gloucester. Sam Egerton has one match to serve on his suspension, for his sending off against Colwyn Bay and Andy Ralph could be out until Christmas, but otherwise, Jim Harvey has a full squad to choose from. In the Gloucester match, Celtic lined up as:
1. Alex Cairns
2. Kelvin Bleau
3. Mark Lees
4. Tim Ryan
5. Joel Bembo-Leta
6. Jordan Barrow
7. Adam Pepper
8. Greg Wilkinson
9. Jack Laird
10. Corey Gregory
11. Mitchell Austin
This early in the season, the table is still very tight, with a win able to lift Celtic up to fourth, and a loss could see us drop to twelfth. Harrogate host Oxford on Saturday, with these two teams level on points with Celtic a draw would be our preferred outcome! There is a full fixture on Saturday, and the following other matches are taking place (Celtic are seventh on eleven points):
Altrincham (9th 10pts) v Bradford Park Avenue (11th 9pts)
Boston United (10th 9pts) v Chester (2nd 21pts)
Brackley Town (1st 21pts) v Workington (12th 9pts)
Corby Town (21st 3pts) v Colwyn Bay (19th 6pts)
Halifax Town (4th 13pts) v Gloucester City (16th 7pts)
Guiseley (3rd 18pts) v Bishop's Stortford (14th 7pts)
Harrogate Town (6th 11pts) v Oxford City (8th 11pts)
Solihull Moors (15th 7pts) v Gainsborough Trinity (13th 8pts)
Vauxhall Motors (17th 7pts) v Hinckley United (22nd 3pts)
Worcester City (5th 12pts) v Droylsden (20th 4pts)