On Tuesday, Celtic travel to Merseyside to face Marine. Marine are currently tenth in the league, four places and six points ahead of Celtic with a game in hand. Kick-off is 7:45pm.

It’s not been the best start to the year for Marine. Having lost once in the fourteen games before Christmas, they have only won one since. They lost to Gainsborough Trinity in their fourteen game otherwise unbeaten run, and beat Stafford in their otherwise run without a win since. Marine’s start to this season saw them win on the opening day to Guiseley, but only register one other win up to the end of September, when they turned their season around, eventually rising as high as third by Boxing Day. Three losses on the bounce saw them slide down the table, and though they ended that run with a 1-0 home win over Stafford, they drew their last two, and slipped down another place.

Hayden Campbell has been banging in the goals for Marine, finding the net nine times in the league, with Sol Solomon his closest rival for the golden boot on six. A certain Djavan Pedro has also scored for Marine this season in a 2-2 home draw with South Shields. They have scored 21 of their 37 goals at home this season, at a rate of 1.5 goals per home game and 1.4 overall, failing to score 4 times at home and 3 times away. They have conceded 13 of their 24 goals at home, at a rate of 0.9 goals per game, keeping 7 of their 11 clean sheets at home. Theirs is the fourth best home defence in the league and it’s given them the league’s fifth highest goal difference.

Over the last thirty-five we’ve visited Marine 18 times, with Celtic winning 8, Marine 4 and 6 draws. Our last visit there in 2020 saw Marine win 3-2 in the FA Trophy with Kyle Hawley and Jon Ustabasi twice pulling Celtic level, only to lose to a second half winner from Niall Cummins. Our last league visit in 2019 saw a 1-1 draw with Danny Cockerline’s second half opener cancelled out. The two prior visits both went Marine’s way in 2017 in the league and 2006 in the FA Cup. Our last competitive win at Marine was 5 visits ago, back in 2004, when we won 2-0 thanks to Chris Denham and Colin Potts.

Marine’s last match, the 1-1 away draw at Radcliffe, saw Marine line up as:
1. Liam Isherwood
2. Josh Solomon-Davies
3. Sean Smith
4. Jordan Lussey
5. Josh Wardle
6. Jonathon Spittle
7. Momodou Touray
8. Charlie Doyle
9. Joe Bunney
10. Sol Solomon
11. Andrew Scarisbrick

Celtic’s last match, the 1-1 away dray at Bamber Bridge, saw Celtic line up as:
1. Greg Hall
2. Tom Miller
3. Ben Richardson
4. Kyle Harrison
5. Dahrius Waldron
6. Domaine Rouse
7. Djavan Pedro
8. Ethan Padden
9. Raul Correia
10. Chris Dagnall
11. Harry Benns

Raheem Hanley, Nathan Caine and Ciaran Summers were all carrying injuries ahead of the visit to Bamber Bridge, and missed out in the stoppage time comeback. Over the last 8 games, the most inform away team is Stalybridge Celtic, whilst with three wins, three losses and two draws, Marine’s home form over the same period is eighth. A win for Celtic on Tuesday could see Celtic jump two places to twelfth, with both Ashton and Stafford two points ahead and neither playing. A loss, however, could see Celtic drop two places, with both Lancaster (away at Warrington) and Nantwich (at home to Matlock) within striking distance.