On Tuesday, Celtic take a break from the league to face Macclesfield in the Cheshire Senior Cup. Macclesfield are currently top of the Northern Premier League on 41points. Kick-off is 7:45pm.

Macclesfield have made great strides to automatic promotion to the Conference North having yet to lose a league match. They have dropped points in just two games, which they drew, winning 13 matches. Those draws came at the start of the season, with Hyde getting a 1-1 draw in Macclesfield and Ilkeston Town holding them to a draw in Ilkeston. 

In the FA Cup, they beat Tadcaster, Witton and South Shields before going out 4-2 away to Tamworth in the fourth qualifier. 

So far in the FA Trophy Macclesfield have beaten Ashton and City of Liverpool. Their most recent game was a 5-1 demolition of Lancaster in Macclesfield.

Danny Elliot is Macclesfield’s top scorer so far this season with nine with John Rooney closest to him with five. Elliot has scored seven of those goals in the last five matches. In 15 matches, they have kept six clean sheets, four of them at home, the most recent a 1-0 home win over Warrington Rylands. They have scored in every match this season.

Our last two games with Macclesfield were friendlies, drawing one and losing the other. Our last competitive meeting was at Bower Fold in the Cheshire Senior Cup, which Celtic won 5-2 in 2013. 

Prior to that, we met during Celtic’s first stint in the Conference National. Most of these went Macclesfield’s way. In our last ten league encounters, Celtic have won two, one of them in Macclesfield. In all those games, the one win in 1993 marks the only game in Macclesfield were Celtic scored until the friendly this season.

In Macclesfield’s last match, the 5-1 home win over Lancaster, Macclesfield lined up as:
1. Max Dearnley
2. Tre Pemberton
3. James Edmundson
4. John Rooney
5. Laurent Mendy
6. Paul Dawson
7. Justin Johnson
8. Alex Curran
9. D’Mani Mellor
10. Danny Elliot
11. Luke Duffy

In Celtic’s last match, the 3-1 away defeat by Congleton, Celtic lined up as:
1. Charlie Monks
2. Javid Swaby-Neavin
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Jordan Boon
5. Jack Tinning
6. Jordan Butterworth
7. Milan Lalkovic
8. Liam Tongue
9. Kamoy McNair
10. Jack Irlam
11. Isaac Modi

Celtic’s defensive crisis has deepened with Jack Tinning limping off against Congleton, joining Aaron Chalmers and Sean Tse. This is a chance for new manager Jon Macken to exercise his team against a team flying high.