Match Preview :- Guiseley - Monday April 6th, 2015 (15:00:00)

On Easter Monday, Celtic travel over the Pennines to our perennial thorn in the side, Guiseley. Guiseley are currently fourth in the table on sixty-six points, sixteen places and twenty-nine points ahead of Celtic, having played the same number of games. There will be a match centre for this game.

For the umpteenth season in succession, Guiseley are vying for a play-off spot. Except for a wobble in August, have been in the top six all season. They lost three times in the opening fifteen games, but also had five draws, meaning they only won six. Their most recent results have seen them lose once in the last eight (away at Chorley 1-0), and they have won three of their last five, including their last game, which was a 3-1 away win over Colwyn Bay, making up for their earlier season 1-1 draw at home to Colwyn Bay. Their last home game was a 3-1 win over Brackley in mid-March, and before that, a 2-0 win over Hyde. Their last home defeat was the previous home game, a 2-1 defeat to Bradford Park Avenue at the end of February. They have played five of their last eight games away from home.

Their top scorer this season is Adam Boyes, whose seventeen goals puts him sixth in the league goal scorers chart. At home they score an average of two goals a game, and concede 1.2 goals per game. They have only failed to score once at home in February, when they lost 2-0 to Hednesford, and they have kept eight clean sheets the most recent of which was their 2-0 win over Hyde. In the five games they have been losing at home, they have only managed to turn one around, and their most prolific period is the hour mark where they have scored fifteen of their sixty-goals this season. Just before half time is when they are most vulnerable, where they have conceded ten of their thirty-nine goals this season. They have the second best defence in the league, just behind Fylde and hold the current league record for the most number of own goals (goals scored by the opposition), at three.

We last met Guiseley earlier this season in October, when Guiseley won 3-1. It's not unusual for Guiseley to beat us, as the last time we beat them was a 2-1 home win back in 2000, and we have never won at the Nethermoor, though we have come close a couple of times, most recently a 1-1 draw there in 2011, Stephen Brogan grabbing our late equaliser, and there should have been at least three penalties in our favour. Our last visit to the Nethermoor, last season, saw Guiseley again win 3-1, with Guiseley coming back after Joel Bembo-Leta scored Celtic's opener inside ten minutes and Celtic were the dominant team in the first half.

Guiseley will be able to welcome back former Celtic striker, Liam Dickinson, for the match against us, after he served out his four match ban for a sending off in their 1-0 win over Solihull Moors, indeed he was on the bench in their last match, the 3-1 away win over Colwyn Bay. In that match, Guiseley lined up as:
1. Stephen Drench
2. Ryan Toulson
3. Danny Lowe
4. Andy Holdsworth
5. Danny Hall
6. Jake Lawlor
7. Wayne Brooksby
8. Danny Boshell
9. Adam Boyes
10. Nicky Boshell
11. Oli Johnson

Celtic should be at full strength (except for Bleau and King) ahead of the match. In our last match, the 2-1 home win over Harrogate, we lined up as:
1. Ross Etheridge
2. Stefan Galinski
3. Oliver Crowley
4. Matt Regan
5. Matty Hughes
6. Michael Potts
7. Aidan Chippendale
8. Scott Kerr
9. Chris Simm
10. Michael Powell
11. Tom Bentham

Celtic are now within sniffing distance of escaping the bottom three. We are one point behind Leamington and two behind Colwyn Bay, and level on points but ahead on goal difference of Brackley, and we have a game in hand on all three of them. For the adventurous, we are five points behind Gloucester, but have played the same number of games as them. With almost a full program of games on Monday (Worcester host Brackley on Tuesday), in order to maintain our push, we will have to do something we've never done, and win at Nethermoor. A win could see us leapfrog Leamington and Colwyn Bay, should results go our way (i.e. Lowestoft and Fylde doing us a favour!), whilst anything else would see us stay where we are for another week.

Other games on Monday:
AFC Fylde (72pts 2nd) v Colwyn Bay (39pts 18th)
Boston United (64pts 5th) v Tamworth (63pts 6th)
Chorley (38pts 3rd) v Barrow (77pts 1st)
Gainsborough Trinity (45pts 14th) v Gloucester City (42pts 17th)
Harrogate Town (48pts 13th) v North Ferriby United (53pts 9th)
Hyde (20pts 22nd) v Bradford Park Avenue (45pts 15th)
Leamington FC (38pts 19th) v Lowestoft Town (44pts 16th)
Solihull Moors (52pts 12th) v Hednesford Town (59pts 7th)
Stockport County (53pts 10th) v Oxford City (59pts 8th)

Directions
Distance: 56
Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

From M62 Junction 20 (A627(M)) head towards Leeds.
At Junction 26, leave and join the M606 towards Bradford.
Stay on the M606 until the end and join the roundabout in the right hand lane.
Turn right on the roundabout (exit 6 of 7) onto the A6177 (Rooley Lane) following signs for Leeds Bradford airport.
After a mile, you will reach a roundabout, go straight across (exit 1 of 4).
Almost immediately you will reach another roundabout, again go straight across (exit 2 of 4) to stay on the A6177 (now called Sticker Lane).
You will go straight across three major junctions, and after about 2 1/2 miles you will reach a crossroads, with a minor road straight on.
Turn right onto the A658 (Harrogate Road) still following signs for the airport.
After 1/2 a mile, you will reach a roundabout, go straight on (exit 3 of 5) to stay on the A658.
Go straight across the crossroads with the A657 and you will come shortly to a roundabout.
Turn left at the roundabout (exit 1 of 4) onto the A65 (New Road) towards Ilkley.
Stay on the New Road for about a mile.
After a small one way system in the centre of Guiseley, it becomes Otley Road.
The ground is about 1/4 of a mile further on, on the right hand side.
There is a free car-park for the club on the postcode LS20 9PD.