Match Preview :- Hyde United - Wednesday December 26th, 2018 (15:00:00)

On Boxing Day (Wednesday, if you're losing track of the days), Celtic host Hyde United in the Boxing Day derby. Hyde are currently two places and two points above Celtic in tenth on thirty-two points. There will be a match centre and Twitter feed for this match.

After a rocky start to the season that saw them win their opening game against Basford, then fail to win for the next six games, they have recovered and steadily climbed the table losing only four games since. Their last loss was a couple of weeks ago when they were beaten 2-1 at home to Nantwich, whilst their last away loss was at the end of November, when they lost 2-1 to Warrington. Their last away game was a 2-0 win over Scarborough, so in their last five away games, they have won two (the other was Stafford back in October), drawn 0-0 with Marine and lost two (the other was a 2-1 loss to Lancaster).

Hyde's top scorer this season is Connor Simpson on six goals, though Tom Pratt is right behind him on five. Away from home, Hyde have scored ten goals, at a rate of 0.9 goals per game, keeping four clean sheets and failing to score four times, though they have only conceded nine goals away at a rate of 0.8 goals per game. Overall, they have scored twenty-nine at a rate of 1.3 goals per game and conceded twenty-one at a rate of a goal per game, keeping nine clean sheets and failing to score six times.

Over the years, we've played Hyde a lot. The last league meeting between the two sides at Bower Fold was New Year's Day 2015 when we won 7-1 with a Paul Ennis hat-trick, a brace from James Cadman, a debut goal from Darius Osei and a masterclass culminating with a goal from the now England and Everton striker, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Hyde's last win here was in 2011, when they won 3-1. In their last five league visits, Hyde have won three and Celtic two. The last time the two teams met at Bower Fold in the Northern Premier League was back on New Year's Day in 2003 when Celtic won 6-0. A repeat of that would be something to see!

In their last match, the 3-0 home win over North Ferriby United, Hyde lined up as:
1. Peter Crook
2. Dominic Smalley
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Ross Daly
5. John McCombe
6. Jordan Fagbola
7. Tom Pratt
8. Janni Lipka
9. Connor Simpson
10. Nicky Platt (played for Celtic in 2008/09)
11. Jerome Wright

In the Celtic's last match, the 1-0 away win over Grantham, Celtic lined up as:
1. Jake Turner
2. Liam Tongue
3. Jack Taylor
4. Ross Dent
5. Olly Marx
6. Chris Smalley
7. Scott Bakkor
8. Greg Wilkinson
9. Neil Kengni
10. Andrew Scott
11. Matty Wolfenden

Only Bamber Bridge are capable of catching Celtic, should we lose to Hyde, they are at home to Marine. Should Celtic win, we would at least leapfrog Hyde, and also possibly Whitby, should they lose away at Farsley. This would mean Celtic going into 2019 in the top ten!

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