Match Preview :- Altrincham - Saturday September 30th, 2017 (15:00:00)

On Saturday Celtic face neighbours Altrincham in this league re-arranged game. Altrincham are currently fifth in the league on twenty-two points, eighteen places and thirteen points ahead of Celtic, though they have a game in hand. There will be a match centre and Twitter feed for this game.

Altrincham are capable of getting to second place in the league with a win, being two points off second placed Stourbridge, and five points off first placed Shaw Lane, with a game in hand on both, so they will be looking to build on their excellent start to life in the EvoStik Premier that has seen them lose only three games, and win seven of their eleven so far. Their top scorers this season are Josh Hancock on seven and Jordan Hulme on six, who between them have scored thirteen of their twenty-three goals. They are scoring at a rate of 2.1 goals per game (1.8 away), whilst conceding their thirteen goals at a rate of 1.2 per game (1.3 away). They've kept two clean sheets on the road and five in total, whilst failing to score in only one away game (two overall). In their last three matches, they have scored nine and conceded none, and the last time they failed to score was a 1-0 defeat away at Matlock Town. The only team to beat them in their last eight games was Workington away, who beat them 5-2.

Over the years, we've met Altrincham a lot. In the last thirty years in the league, we've met twenty-eight times. Of their fourteen visits to Bower Fold in the league, Celtic have won ten of them and Altrincham three. Our most recent win in the league at Bower Fold was back in 2011 when we beat them 5-1. They've had their revenge since, putting ten past us home and away in the 13/14 season, with two 5-0 wins and Altrincham have won their last two league visits here; the most recent encounter being a 2-0 win for Altrincham. The last time the two teams met was in the Conference North at Altrincham, which was a draw.

In Altrincham's last match, the 3-0 away win at Hednesford Town (ending Hednesford's unbeaten home record), they lined up as:
1. Anthony Thompson
2. Joel Bembo-Leta
3. Shaun Densmore
4. Tom Hannigan
5. Ben Harrison
6. Jake Moult
7. Tom Peers
8. Sam Sheridan
9. Jordan Hulme
10. Joshua Hancock
11. James Poole

In Celtic's last match, the 1-0 home win over Halesowen, Celtic lined up as:
1. Jack Watson
2. Oliver Crowley
3. Alex Honeyball
4. Tom Brown
5. Luke Ashworth
6. Ross Killock
7. Aidan Chippendale
8. Oliver Roberts
9. Liam Dickinson
10. Jake Charles
11. Sebastian Julien

It's been a long time since Celtic strung two wins together, and there is no doubt that Saturday will be a far tougher ask than Tuesday night, but if Celtic are to get their spluttering season started, they will have to overcome a rampant and high flying Robins, but if they do then we could rise two places.

Other games this weekend:
Ashton United (20pts 10th) v Hednesford Town (14pts 18th)
Coalville Town (23pts 3rd) v Farsley Celtic (23pts 4th)
Halesowen Town (8pts 24th) v Workington (16pts 13th)
Marine (12pts 20th) v Grantham Town (18pts 11th)
Rushall Olympic (11pts 22nd) v Warrington Town (21pts 6th)
Whitby Town (17pts 12th) v Barwell (20pts 9th)
Witton Albion (21pts 7th) v Mickleover Sports (14pts 16th)

Match Sponsor
Brother UK
Ball Sponsor
George & Aaron Lowe
Man of the Match Sponsor
John Petch
Programme Sponsor
Dukinfield CC