On Saturday, Celtic face Kidsgrove Athletic at Bower Fold. Kidsgrove are currently eighteenth on thirty-seven points, twelve places and thirteen points behind Celtic with a game in hand. Kick-off 3pm.

Kidsgrove had a great spell around November, winning five with only one loss. However, since around Christmas time, in their last ten games, Kidsgrove have lost seven, drawn two with their only win a home match over Atherton. Their last away win was mid-Decembeer when they beat City of Liverpool. Overall, they’ve won four times on the road, with only one of those games not being a team in the bottom four, at the start of the season when they beat Hednesford. Only the bottom two have won fewer away games this season, but only two teams have drawn more away matches. They have the fifth worst away attack and the sixth worst away defence.

Kingsley Adu-Gymafi tops their scorer’s chart for the season so far, with eleven goals, nearly twice his nearest rival, Tom Pope. On average, they score 1.1 away goals, 1.4 overall, whilst conceding 1.8 away goals and 1.6 overall. Kidsgrove have kept two of their eight clean sheets on the road, the last being a goalless draw against Stafford back at the start of October. They have failed to score in six away games (nine in total), with the last time being in their last away match to Chasetown.

We have met Kidsgrove three times so far. Twice in Kidsgrove: this season a goalless draw and last season a 2-2 end result with Connor O’Grady scoring at both ends of the picth. Kidsgrove’s visit to Bower Fold last season finished 2-1 to Celtic, with Joe Edwards and Darius Osei scoring either side of a penalty for Kidsgrove.

In Kidsgrove’s last match, the 1-2 home defeat with Clitheroe, Kidsgrove lined up as:
1. Dimeji Willan
2. Harry Goode
3. Alex Morris
4. Jack Bromfield
5. Richie Sutton
6. Ben Calder
7. Kyle Diskin
8. Robbie Hatton
9. Tom Pope
10. Kingsley Adu Gyamfi 11. Nathan Morley

In Celtic’s last match the 2-1 home win over Newcastle, Celtic lined up as:
1. Josh Ollerenshaw
2. Jordan Butterworth
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Courtney Meppen-Walters
5. Sean Tse
6. Charlie Doyle
7. Brandon Newell
8. Liam Tongue
9. Joe Duckworth
10. Max Leonard
11. Jack Irlam

As we go into the last ten games, Jack Tinning is available for selection, whilst Benni Smales-Braithwaite is also ready for a return. Charlie Monks had to miss the Newcastle match for personal reasons, but should be back between the posts. A win for Celtic could see us overtake Chasetown to go back to fifth, with Chasetown at home to Runcorn. Linnets are three points behind Celtic, but have a worse goal difference, so only Trafford could overtake us if we don’t win and they beat Newcastle in Newcastle.