Match Preview :- Bradford Park Avenue - Tuesday March 14th, 2017 (19:45:00)

On Tuesday, Celtic host Bradford Park Avenue, weather permitting (kick off 7:45pm). Bradford recently escaped the drop zone with a string of wins that leaves them in eighteenth on thirty-one points, sixteen points and three places above bottom placed Celtic, though Celtic have three games in hand. There will be a match centre and Twitter Feed for this game.

After winning three on the bounce, Bradford have lost their last two games, losing 3-1 at home to Halifax most recently, and 1-0 at home to Gluocester. Their last two away games were wins though, beating both Nuneaton and Curzon 2-1. Their most recent away loss was a 1-0 defeat at Harrogate in mid-January. Their away form all season has been better than their home form, with three wins at home to six wins away from home including wins over Stockport and Worcester.

Their top scorer this season is Chris Sharp, with five, though Nicky Wroe and Nicky Boshell are close behind on four. They've scored a total of thirty-five goals this season (fifteen away) at a rate of 1.1 goals per game (one per game away), whilst they have conceded sizty-one goals this season (twenty-six away) at a rate of 1.9 goals per game (1.7 away). Bradford have kept only one clean sheet on the road (the 1-0 win over Worcester), and failed to score in seven away games (twelve overall).

We have already played Bradford this season, beating them 1-0 at Cemetery Road, Gary Gee with the only goal in the game. Avenue's last visit to Bower Fold was at the start of last season when the game finished 1-1, Jack Higgins's goal cancelled out by Michael Potts. Bradford's last win at Bower Fold was at the end of the 14/15 season when they won 1-0, whilst Celtic's last win over Bradford at Bower Folds was back in December 2012, when we won 2-0, with goals from Jamie Mullan and Tom Buckley. In eight visits, Bradford have won two, Celtic have won three and three have been draws.

Bradford's line up will contain former Celtic winger, Aidan Chippendale. In their last game, the 3-1 home loss to Halifax, they lined up as:
1. Jon Worsnop
2. Ryan Toulson
3. Adam Nowakowski
4. Nicky Wroe
5. Shane Killock
6. James Knowles
7. Wayne Brooksby
8. Danny Boshell
9. Aidan Chippendale
10. Oli Johnson
11. Gavin Rothery

Celtic's last match was the 1-0 home defeat to Darlington. In that match, Celtic lined up as:
1. Grant Shenton
2. Danny Morton
3. Danny Wisdom
4. Matty Hughes
5. Fraser Horsfall
6. Aaron Chalmers
7. Kieran Dunbar
8. Matt Regan
9. James Roberts
10. Danny Wilkins
11. Danny Pilkington

Whilst this one game won't send Celtic down if we lose, a win would go a considerable way to ensuring safety. Celtic are sixteen points off safety with twelve points available in hand on the teams we need to catch, though we are rapidly running out of games. Bradford have shown what a string of wins can do, and Celtic now need to emulate this in what is definitely a six pointer.

Match Sponsor
Match day sponsor
required
0161 338 2828
Ball Sponsor
Ball sponsor
required
0161 338 2828
Man of the Match Sponsor
Man of the Match sponsor
required
0161 338 2828
Programme Sponsor
Programme sponsor
required
0161 338 2828