Match Preview :- Alfreton Town - Saturday October 22nd, 2016 (15:00:00)

On Saturday, Celtic host Alfreton Town (kick off 3pm). Alfreton are currently eighteenth in the league, four places and seven points above Celtic. There will be a match centre for this game.

Alfreton have not had the best of seasons, with four wins so far, two at home and two away. Their away wins have been impressive, beating high flying Darlington 4-3 and high flying Brackley 3-2. Their last four away games have all been losses though, losing heavily to Salford (4-1) and Worcester (5-3), with their most recent two being a 3-2 loss at Boston and a 4-3 loss at FC United. Over those four games, Alfreton have conceded sixteen goals and scored nine. With Celtic having conceded eleven and scored four, it's highly likely Saturday's game will have goals.

On average, Alfreton score 2.7 goals per game away from home, and concede 3.6; they have scored in every away game, and never kept a clean sheet away from home. They have never been drawing at half time. In all six games they were losing at half time, they went onto lose, where as they went onto win four of the six games they were winning at half time. Dan Bradley is their top scorer so far this season, with seven; Craig Westcarr is right behind on six.

In Alfreton's last visit to Bower Fold, there was a 1-1 draw (Jack Higgins with a stoppage time equaliser), after Celtic had had an excellent 3-1 victory at their place earlier in the season. Alfreton's last win here was in October 2010, when they won 2-1 (Phil Marsh with Celtic's goal). Celtic's last win over Alfreton was in March 2008 when we won 3-1 with a brace from Steve Torpey and one from Ashley Winn. In the last ten visits, Celtic have won four, Alfreton four and there have been two draws. Alfreton have won three of the last four visits.

Alfreton's last match, the 4-3 away loss at FC United of Manchester, they lined up as:
1. Fabian Spiess
2. Samuel Edmundson
3. Terry Kennedy
4. Niall Heaton
5. Brad McGowan
6. Adam Smith
7. Paul Marshall
8. Kallum Mantack
9. Tom Allan
10. Paul Clayton
11. Craig Westcarr

Celtic's last match, the 4-0 away loss at Worcester, saw Celtic line up as:
1. Tony McMillan
2. Danny Morton
3. Danny Wisdom
4. Matty Hughes
5. Keil O'Brien
6. Brian Summerskill
7. Aidan Chippendale
8. Gary Gee
9. Liam Dickinson
10. Danny Wilkins
11. Adam Mather

Celtic are now seven points adrift of escape from the bottom three. We have scored two goals in the last five games, conceded fourteen, lost five games on the bounce won just once in six home games. Things have to change. A win for Celtic on Saturday is vital now, to keep in touch with safety. A loss would see Alfreton do what Worcester did and move ten points ahead of Celtic.

There is a full schedule on Saturday, other games:
AFC Fylde (34pts 1st) v Harrogate Town (27pts 4th)
Altrincham (7pts 20th) v AFC Telford (15pts 14th)
Boston United (16pts 13th) v FC Halifax Town (24pts 6th)
Brackley Town (21pts 9th) v Curzon Ashton (13pts 19th)
Chorley (29pts 3rd) v Stockport County (21pts 10th)
Darlington (30pts 2nd) v Worcester City (16pts 12th)
Gainsborough Trinity (15pts 15th) v Nuneaton Town (13pts 17th)
Gloucester City (21pts 8th) v Bradford Park Avenue (4pts 22nd)
Kidderminster Harriers (25pts 5th) v FC United of Manchester (14pts 16th)
Salford City (23pts 7th) v Tamworth (20pts 11th)

Match Sponsor
Brother UK
Ball Sponsor
Moorlands Human Capital Ltd
Man of the Match Sponsor
Jean & Alan Naylor
Programme Sponsor
Programme sponsor
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0161 338 2828