On Saturday, Celtic will make the long trip eastward to face Gainsborough Trinity in the league clash (kick off 3pm). Gainsborough are currently eighteenth four places and three points behind Celtic on zero points.
Celtic will be looking to build on the great result at Colwyn Bay that saw them pick up our first points of the season, whilst adding to the poor start that Gainsborough have made. Trinity's opening day loss was away at Vauxhall Motors, a game they lost 2-1. They followed this up with a 2-1 home defeat to Guiseley.
Last season, Gainsborough finished eighth, nine points off the play offs, fourteen points and five places ahead of Celtic. Their top scorer with eleven goals, last season, Paul Connor, has since left the club, but Darryn Stamp who grabbed nine goals in the last campaign is still at the club. They were mid-table for scoring, with one and a half goals per game at home. Defensively they were strong, though, conceding just 1.1 goals per game. They kept five clean sheets at home, and failed to score just three times.
Celtic's last visit to the Northolme was back in December, a game we won 2-1, having already been held to a 1-1 draw earlier in the season at Bower Fold. Gainsborough's last win over Celtic at their place was the season before, when they won 3-1 in December 2011, to avenge the earlier August 4-0 win by Celtic at Bower Fold. We've met Gainsborough forty times since 1988, twenty at Northolme and twenty at Bower Fold. In those twenty visits to Gainsborough, Celtic have only managed six wins, with nine draws and five losses. Historically speaking, Celtic have had the better of the results. Over the last five years, this is even better, with Celtic winning six of those ten games, Gainsborough winning two and there being two draws, including the 3-3 thriller back in December 2008 that saw Luke Beckett continue his scoring spree against Celtic with a last gasp equaliser.
Celtic will still be without Callum Warburton who is serving the last game of his three match ban, but otherwise, Jim Harvey should have a full team to pick from. In Celtic's last match, the 2-1 win away at Colwyn Bay, Celtic lined up as:
1. Matt Urwin
2. Kelvin Bleau
3. Andy McWilliams
4. Kristian Platt
5. Mark Lees
6. Prince Haywood
7. Tom Buckley
8. Lewis Hatch
9. Obi Anorou
10. Sean McConville
11. Conal Platt
Gainsborough have no suspension worries, and lined up in their 2-1 home defeat to Guiseley, they lined up as:
1. Phil Barnes
2. Dominic Roma
3. Greg Young
4. Tom Ward
5. Josh Wilde
6. Michael Leary
7. Simon Russell
8. Josh Williams
9. Bradley Barraclough
10. Mark Jones
11. Darryn Stamp
12. Josh Lacey
13. Josh Batty
14. Jake Park
15. Ryan Williams
16. Liam Davis
A win for Celtic could see them jump into the top third of the table, but Gainsborough will be looking to get their season off the ground.
Other games on Saturday:
Altrincham (4th 6pts) v Stockport County (17th 1pts)
Boston United (5th 4pts) v Leamington FC (10th 3pts)
Brackley Town (3rd 6pts) v Worcester City (20th 0pts)
Bradford Park Avenue (22nd 0pts) v Barrow (19th 0pts)
Colwyn Bay (21st 0pts) v Guiseley (13th 3pts)
Gloucester City (12th 3pts) v AFC Telford United (9th 4pts)
Harrogate Town (7th 4pts) v North Ferriby United (1st 6pts)
Hednesford Town (2nd 6pts) v Oxford City (15th 1pts)
Solihull Moors (6th 4pts) v Histon (11th 3pts)
Workington (16th 1pts) v Vauxhall Motors (8th 4pts)
