On Saturday, Celtic host Brackley Town. Brackley are currently fifteenth in the table, four places and four points ahead of nineteenth placed Celtic, though they have played a game more. There will be a match centre for this game.

With only two wins on the road this season, Brackley are in the bottom three on the away form table. They have beaten Lowestoft back in October, and most recently they beat Gainsborough away at the start of January. They have had four straight defeats, and were it not for their home results, they would be much lower down the table. Brackley have scored the fewest number of goals in the league so far this season, with twenty-six, twelve of which have come away. They have failed to score in ten matches this season, four away. Surprisingly, however, they do hold the league record for the most consecutive clean sheets, with five games between the middle of September to the middle of October.

We have played Brackley this season at their own ground, a game they won 1-0 midway through their defensive lockout. In previous seasons, we have never beaten Brackley, with their visit to us last season finishing 1-1 and being the best result we have had with them, and that was thanks to a Tom Sharpe own goal. In the three previous clashes between the two sides, Brackley have won by three goals, beating us 3-0 at their place earlier in the season and in Brackley's first Conference North season, they beat us 3-0 at Bower Fold, and 4-1 in Brackley. There's always a first time!

Brackley's top scorers this season are Ryan Rowe and David Moyo who both have five goals each. Will Green is right behind them on four. With an average goals per game below one goal a game, and conceding nearly two goals a game away from home, this could go some way to explaining their away form this season.

Brackley lost their match 5-0 at home to Oxford City, and their last away match was also a defeat to Barrow, 3-1 this time. Brackley don't have any suspensions ahead of Saturday's match, and appear to be injury free, lining up in the 5-0 home defeat to Oxford as:
1. Billy Turley
2. Dwayne Samuels
3. Chris Carruthers
4. Eddie Odhiambo
5. Tom Sharpe
6. Ryan Austin
7. Ebby Nelson-Addy
8. Sam Whittall
9. Ryan Rowe
10. Will Green
11. David Moyo

Celtic have lost their last three games, their last one a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to Chorley. Our last home win was New Year's Day against Hyde, and it would be nice to have a repeat of that. We have no suspensions at the moment, but Kelvin Bleau and Matt Regan were both missing from the Chorley match, where we lined up as:
1. Lewis King
2. Oliver Crowley
3. Nathan Heath
4. Matty Hughes
5. Stefan Galinski
6. Michael Potts
7. Ben McKenna
8. Scott Kerr
9. Jamie Allen
10. Stephen Brogan
11. Kevin Holsgrove

Celtic could really do with winning this one. This would put Brackley within reach with our game in hand on them. A loss could see us drop back into the relegation zone, with Colwyn Bay only a point behind us. A win however, could lift us four places, though the three teams we'd leapfrog all have a game in hand, and it would require a draw between Leamington and Gainsborough.

Other games this Saturday:
AFC Fylde (58pts 2nd) v Harrogate Town (34pts 14th)
Barrow (60pts 1st) v Solihull Moors (40pts 11th)
Boston United (45pts 7th) v Bradford Park Avenue (23pts 21st)
Chorley (47pts 5th) v Gloucester City (31pts 16th)
Colwyn Bay (28pts 20th) v Worcester City (38pts 12th)
Guiseley (48pts 4th) v Hednesford Town (47pts 6th)
Leamington FC (30pts 18th) v Gainsborough Trinity (31pts 17th)
North Ferriby United (41pts 10th) v Tamworth (42pts 3rd)
Oxford City (43pts 9th) v Lowestoft Town (35pts 13th)
Stockport County (43pts 8th) v Hyde (12pts 22nd)