On Tuesday night (kick off 7:45), Celtic face Atherton Collieries in the Integro League cup after the original three postponements. Weather permitting this match will be played at Bower Fold, though Celtic will be the away team. Atherton are now twenty-first in the table on twenty-five points, seventeen points and twelve places below ninth placed Celtic, though they have played seven games fewer.
Atherton's last win was when they played us at the start of January in the league, when they beat us 3-0. Since then, they have played five more games, two at home, and three away. They have lost all five. This, plus postponements, has seen them drop down into the drop-zone and are now four points off safety. Though they have lost their previous five games, prior to that, they lost just one in the previous seven, a 1-0 defeat away at Radcliffe. Their most recent match was a 2-1 defeat away at Basford.
They have conceded in every home game but two, one at home and one away, the visit by us a month ago and their trip to Gainsborough in October. They have scored in every home match though, failing to score in five away matches. In total, they have scored thirty-four (twenty-three at home and eleven away) at a rate of 1.4 per game (1.9 per home game, 0.9 away), whilst conceding forty-nine goals (twenty-six at home and twenty-three away) at a rate of 2 goals per game (2.2 at home and 1.8 away). Their top scorer this season is former Celt, Tom Bentham, with ten, the same as the next three players combined. Bentham has scored seventy percent of his goals at home, but netted a third of all their away goals. With eleven goals on the road, they have the worst away attack of any team in the league, and only Grantham and Stafford have won fewer away games.
Having played Atherton twice, both times this season, we've yet to beat them, although we once beat them in a behind closed doors friendly under Phil Wilson's reign. At Bower Fold, Celtic pulled back a second-half goal after Bentham had put them into an early lead that Celtic never recovered from; whilst in Atherton, Celtic failed to turn up and handed the game to the hosts on a plate.
Atherton's last match was the 2-1 away defeat by Basford. In that match they lined up as:
1. Paddy Wharton
2. Clive Smith
3. Gareth Peet
4. Ashley Dunn
5. Danny Laffety
6. Matthew Makinson
7. Jamal Crawford
8. Cain Noble
9. Jordan Cover
10. Vinny Bailey
11. Daniel O'Brien
In Celtic's last match, the 0-2 away defeat with Grantham, Celtic lined up as:
1. Alex Fojtícèk
2. Kallum Mantack
3. Scott Metcalfe
4. Max Taylor
5. Stephen O'Halloran
6. Chris Smalley
7. Adam O'Reilly
8. Patrick Lacey
9. Chris Holroyd
10. Declan Walker
11. Jonathan Ustabasi
Celtic look to be fully fit, but will be missing Craig Hobson, who is serving the second of his three match suspension.
Hopefully, Celtic can progress to the next round where there is a home match to Marine. The winners of that match will have a home match with Morpeth.
