Match Preview :- Gainsborough Trinity - Saturday September 29th, 2018 (15:00:00)

On Saturday, Celtic host Gainsborough Trinity (kick off 3pm). Gainsborough have had a great start to the season, though they lost their opening game, they have gone on to lose win five and draw two to leave them in fourth on seventeen points, five places and three points above Celtic. There will be a match centre and Twitter feed for this game.

Gainsborough were relegated last season, for the first time in their history, three points from safety in twentieth. However, after an opening day 1-0 loss away at Nantwich, Trinity have established themselves and are in with a chance of bouncing straight back into the Conference North. Trinity have won all four home matches, including their most recent match, winning 1-0 at home to North Ferriby. Away from home, they have beaten Hednesford (2-1), but drawn their last two away matches 1-1 at Farsley and 0-0 at Witton. They have navigated two rounds of the FA Cup, beating Chasetown 8-2 and Halesowen 3-0.

They have scored thirteen goals this season at a rate of 1.6 goals per game, although only three of those have come away from home and two of them in the same match, giving them a rate of 0.75 goals per game away. They have been tight defensively, though, only conceding one away from home, if they concede at all, keeping a clean sheet in their last away match. Their top scorer is Ross Hannah, with three, with four players having two goals each: Ashley Worsfold, Liam King, Alex Byrne and perennial thorn in Celtic's side, Damian Reeves.

The last meeting between the two teams was two seasons ago when Celtic were relegated from the Conference North, although Celtic drew 2-2 at the Northolm (with Celtic's goals from Kieran Dunbar and Fraser Horsfall) and beat them 3-2 at Bower Fold with a brace of penalties from Andy Owens and Aidan Chippendale chipping in. In their last ten trips here, they have won only once, back in 2009 when they beat us 2-1 with Andy Smart's goal insufficient to gloss over a poor first half. In the last ten matches, Celtic have won six and drawn three, including the 4-4 draw that kept Celtic in the Conference North at the expense of Colwyn Bay in 2015.

Matlock have a new manager at the helm, Dave Frecklington, but he couldn't stop South Shields winning 3-0 at Matlock in their last game. In that game, Matlock lined up as:
1. Jon Stewart
2. Neil Austin
3. Ben Gordan
4. Simon Russell
5. Joe Maguire
6. Kelvin Lugsden
7. Alex Byrne
8. Liam King
9. Ashley Worsfold
10. Damian Reeves
11. Alex Simmons

In Celtic's last league match, the 3-1 home win over Matlock Town, Celtic lined up as:
1. James Aspinall
2. Josh Solomon-Davies
3. Scott Wilson
4. George Hughes
5. Liam Tongue
6. Michael Clarke
7. Scott Bakkor
8. Glenn Rule
9. Chris Sharpe
10. Matthew Wolfenden
11. James Caton

Celtic have no new injury doubts with Jake Turner still three weeks away from full fitness, Greg Wilkinson and Tom Brown are also still doubts as Celtic look to continue their excellent home record that has seen us score ten goals in six matches, three times scoring three goals.

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