Match Preview :- Salford City - Saturday August 13th, 2016 (15:00:00)

On Saturday, Celtic play Salford City, the league's third SCFC, and the second time in a week this SCFC have played an SCFC. There will be a match centre for this game.

Salford came through the play-offs last season, beating Ashton United and Workington to do so. They finished last season in third, with ninety points, having won twenty-seven games and drawn nine. They only lost ten games all season. In that time they scored ninety-four goals – with only Darlington scoring more. Their defence was also pretty good, conceding forty-eight, the fourth best in the league. Their opening game this season was at home to Gloucester, a game they drew 1-1.

Their top scorer last season was Daniel Webber, who scored seventeen but he was pushed all the way by Jordan Hulme and James Poole, both of whom netted sixteen, with Jamie Allen coming in fourth place with still an impressive tally of fourteen. James Poole is already off the mark this season, having netted in the opening game.

We've only met Salford once in recent history. A friendly played in July 2014 that Celtic won 3-0, with Paul Ennis scoring all three.

In their last match, the 1-1 draw with Gloucester, Salford lined up as:
1. Jay Lynch
2. Michael Nottingham
3. Stephen O'Halloran
4. Scott Burton
5. Simon Grand
6. Billy Priestley
7. Craig King
8. Matt Warburton
9. Mike Phenix
10. James Poole
11. Richie Allen

Celtic's last match was the 3-1 home defeat to Stockport County, leaving Celtic still looking for their first home points of this campaign. Aaron Chalmers will require a fitness test ahead of Saturday's game, having been taken off with concussion after he was knocked unconscious in the lead up to Stockport's third goal. In that match, we lined up as:
1. Tony McMillan
2. Aaron Chalmers
3. Danny Wisdom
4. Matty Hughes
5. Nick Ryan
6. Kristian Platt
7. Liam Hynes
8. Jimmy Ball
9. Andy Owens
10. Callum Bagshaw
11. Danny Pilkington

Salford are an unknown quantity coming into the league on the back of a wonderful couple of seasons that have seen back to back promotions. Freshly promoted teams quite often do well on this swell, so Celtic will have to be alert.

Other games this weekend (FC United v Stockport is on Friday):
FC United of Manchester v Stockport County
AFC Fylde v Brackley Town
Alfreton Town v Curzon Ashton
Bradford Park Avenue v Nuneaton Town
Darlington v Boston United
FC Halifax Town v Worcester City
Gloucester City v Gainsborough Trinity
Harrogate Town v Altrincham
Kidderminster Harriers v Chorley
Tamworth v AFC Telford

Match Sponsor
Brother UK
Ball Sponsor
Gatley Read
Man of the Match Sponsor
MG Domestic
Programme Sponsor
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