On Saturday, weather permitting, Celtic will face North Ferriby United. Despite a draw lifting them one place on Tuesday night, they are not repeating last season's form that saw them finish runners up but lose out in the play-offs. They are currently ninth in the table, nine points and five places above fourteenth placed Celtic. There will be a match centre for this game.

Despite reasonable home form that has seen them lose only once, the Villagers' away form is somewhat less than average, and they are eighteenth in the form table with only one away win in their last ten away from home, at Lowestoft, when they won 2-1. Since then they have lost two, 1-0 at Hyde and 3-0 at Gainsborough; and they have drawn their most recent away game, 1-1 at Gloucester. They started the season well, with four wins and a draw, including two 1-0 away wins over Stockport and Boston. Early season form saw them reach the giddy heights of second, but the poor away form has seen them dip as low as twelfth.

North Ferriby's top scorer is Tom Denton, with nine, though Nathan Jarman is close behind on seven. In total, they have thirty-six goals, and have conceded thirty-two, only nine of their goals have come away from home. Their best away win was the 2-1 at Lowestoft, whilst their heaviest defeat on the road was a 3-1 loss at Solihull. North Ferriby have kept three clean sheets away from home, and failed to score in five.

The last time we met was a 3-2 win for North Ferriby at Bower Fold last season, when Liam King found the net in sixteen seconds. Charlie Ennis and Liam Dickinson got Celtic in front, Ennis on ten minutes, and Dickinson in the second half from the spot, but a goal from Josh Wilson, and a seventy-eighth minute penalty scored by Nathan Jarman sealed the three points for Ferriby. Wilson and Jarman were both on the score sheet again in our only other meeting, when we lost 2-0 in Ferriby.

North Ferriby have no suspensions, and look injury free. In their last match a 1-1 draw at home with Brackley Town, North Ferriby lined up as:
1. Adam Nicklin
2. Louis Bruce
3. Josh Wilde
4. Gregg Anderson
5. Mark Gray
6. Liam King
7. Danny Clarke
8. Russ Fry
9. Tom Denton
10. Ryan Kendall
11. Jason St Juste

Celtic will be without Matty Hughes, who is suspended. However, Liam Dickinson will be back from suspension, giving Keith Briggs a selection headache up front. George Lomax and Aidan Chippendale were both watching Celtic's last match from the side lines through injury. In that match, the 1-0 away win at Colwyn Bay, Celtic lined up as:
1. Lewis King
2. Kelvin Bleau
3. Nathan Heath
4. Matt Regan
5. Harley Wigley
6. Stefan Galinski
7. Ben McKenna
8. Scott Kerr
9. Dominic Calvert-Lewin
10. Paul Ennis
11. Kevin Holsgrove

The league table is in two halves currently, top to thirteenth, and fourteenth downward. Celtic, in fourteenth are five points away from Brackley in thirteenth, a gap too large to bridge with a win, whilst all five teams between fifteenth and nineteenth are within three points of Celtic. So while a win cannot lift us any higher, a loss could see us drop back towards the bottom three. However, a win could bring the top half of the table within reach.

Other games this Saturday:
AFC Fylde (55pts 1st) v Oxford City (37pts 10th)
Barrow (50pts 2nd) v Colwyn Bay (27pts 17th)
Gainsborough Trinity (28pts 15th) v Stockport County (36pts 11th)
Guiseley (45pts 3rd) v Bradford Park Avenue (23pts 20th)
Harrogate Town (27pts 18th) v Boston United (38pts 6th)
Hednesford Town (37pts 8th) v Chorley (38pts 5th)
Leamington FC (26pts 19th) v Tamworth (45pts 4th)
Lowestoft Town (28pts 16th) v Hyde (12pts 22nd)
Solihull Moors (37pts 7th) v Brackley Town (33pts 13th)