Match Preview :- Worcester City - Tuesday February 23rd, 2016 (19:45:00)

On Tuesday night Celtic travel to Kidderminster to face Worcester City. Worcester are currently sixteenth in the league on thirty-two points, four points and two places below Celtic. There should be a match centre for this game.

Worcester have been quite inconsistent for the whole season. They had a good spell in November/December with four wins, a draw and a loss that lifted them away from bottom spot. In their last five home games, they have beaten Gainsborough and North Ferriby (both 2-0), lost to Gloucester and Corby (both 2-1) and drawn 0-0 with Brackley. Their last two matches have been a 2-0 defeat away at Chorley and a 1-1 draw away at Nuneaton. Their thirty-two goals have come from seventeen different players with Daniel Nti and Lee Hughes both on five goals each. With seven goals in the last five minutes, this is their most dangerous period. Of their thirty-eight conceded goals, six have come just after the restart, twenty-three in total in the second half. They score an average of 1.5 goals a game at home (1.2 overall) and conceded 1.4 goals per game. They've kept eight clean sheets split equally between home and away, and failed to score eight times, but only twice at home, a goalless draw with Brackley and a 1-0 defeat by Nuneaton.

Celtic won the last meeting between the two sides, beating them 3-1 at Bower Fold earlier in the season in November with a Tristan Dunkley consolation after a brace from Jack Higgins and Chris Simm header off an Aidan Chippendale free kick. Worcester's last win over us was at Bower Fold last season, when they won 1-0. Our last visit to Kidderminster was a 2-2 draw that reflected the balance of play. Celtic's last win at Worcester was back in October 2013, when we won 2-1 (Adam Pepper and Kristian Platt scoring in the second half for Celtic) after Worcester were reduced to nine men, and Celtic down to ten.

Worcester earned a creditable draw in their last match away at Nuneaton. In that match, they lined up as:
1. Nathan Vaughan
2. Sam Minihan
3. Alex Gudger
4. Tom Sharpe
5. Wayne Thomas
6. Daniel Nti
7. Jordan Murphy
8. Danny Jackman
9. Shaun Donnellan
10. Connor Gater
11. Lee Hughes

Celtic's last match was abandoned, but last Tuesday's match against Harrogate Town went ahead, with Harrogate scoring the goal, and Celtic not for it to finish 1-0 to Town. In that match, Celtic lined up as:
1. Tony McMillan
2. Peter Wylie
3. Danny Wisdom
4. Matty Hughes
5. Jack Higgins
6. Dale Wright
7. Bohan Dixon
8. Alex Mudimu
9. Chris Simm
10. Steve Tames
11. Adam Farrell

There are only three midweek games this week. Tuesday sees Lowestoft Town (17th 32pts) host Hednesford Town (21st 27pts) and Wednesday sees Bradford Park Avenue (15th 33pts) host Boston United (6th 51pts). A loss for Celtic and a win for Bradford would see us swap places with Bradford, whilst a win for Celtic would lift us to twelfth, level on points with eleventh placed Curzon and within striking distance of eighth with a game in hand on two of the teams above us.

Directions
Distance: 108
Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes

From the M67 join the M60 towards Stockport.
After 7 miles, leave the M60 at Junction 4 (Chester, M6) to join the M56 Stay on the M56 for 7 miles, coming off at junction 7 (Northwich, M6) to join the A556.
The roundabout can be avoided by using the slip road.
Stay on the A556 for 5 miles to the roundabout with the M6.
Join the M6 southbound (Birmingham) avoiding the roundabout by using the slip road.
Stay on the M6 for 64 miles to junction 8 (M5, the South).
Join the M5.
Stay on the M5 for 13 miles to junction 4 (A38, Bromsgrove).
Take the second exit onto Halesowen Road (A38).
Stay on the A38 for 3 miles to a set of lights with Birmingham Road (signposted Bromsgrove North / Minor Injuries Unit).
Turn right here using the filter lane.
The club is on the right after about a mile.