In the final game of the season, Celtic face league champions-elect, Buxton. Buxton are currently top, three points clear with an 11 goal-difference advantage over second placed South Shields, except for a disaster, they have won the league. Kick-off is 3pm, tickets are available on the gate or online.

Apart from a slight wobble around Christmas, Buxton have been on track for a top three finish all season, turning around the wobble to go on a 15 game unbeaten run that cemented their top spot. Several draws have allowed South Shields to close the gap, but South Shields loss on Bank Holiday all but handed the title to Buxton. Buxton started the season with a 16 game unbeaten run, with 11 wins and five draws. This is a league record this season, one that can only be equalled if Celtic do not beat them on Saturday. Their last loss was away at Morpeth, at the end of January, following on from away losses to Scarborough and Matlock, and home losses to FC United and Stafford.

In Diego De Girolamo, Buxton have the league’s second highest goal scorer with 20, but he’d need to score a double hattrick to overtake Jacob Hazel at Whitby who has 25. Additionally, in Jamie Ward, Buxton have another top 10 striker, with 17 goals this season. Buxton have the best attack in the league scoring an average of two goals per game (1.6 away), failing to score in five away games and six overall. They also have the second-best defence behind Matlock, conceding 0.9 goals per game (one per game overall), and keeping eight of their 19 clean sheets at home. Nobody has kept more clean sheets than Buxton. In total, they’ve netted 80 goals this season, with 32 of them away, whilst conceding 37 with 20 of them away.

Over the past 35 years, Buxton have crossed the Pennines to visit us eight times in the league and once in the Trophy. Buxton have won three of those, most recently in the first curtailed season when they won 4-0. Celtic have won three of the encounters, most recently in 2019, when Celtic won 2-0 thanks to goals at the start of each half from Ross Dent and Darius Osei. Grant Shenton was the Buxton custodian in that match. There have been three draws, the most recent a goalless draw in the FA Trophy (Celtic went onto win the replay in Buxton), and the most recent league draw saw Neil Kengni’s last minute equaliser cancel out Michael Clarke’s second half own goal.

Buxton’s last match, the 1-0 home win over Matlock Town, saw Buxton line up as:
1. Theo Richardson
2. Matthias Curley
3. Sean Newton
4. Daniel Cowan
5. Josh Granite
6. Lindon Meikle
7. Jamie Ward
8. Ashley Chambers
9. Diego De Girolamo
10. Tom Elliott
11. Warren Clarke

In Celtic’s last match, the 2-2 away draw with Hyde, Celtic lined up as:
1. Grant Shenton
2. Douglas Nyaupembe
3. Josh Edwards
4. Sam Wedgbury
5. Keenan Quansah
6. Shane Killock
7. Callum Harris
8. Ethan Padden
9. Jake Burton
10. Stephen Brogan
11. Justin Johnson

Celtic cannot finish in the bottom three, the lowest we can finish is 19th, if Atherton (home to Morpeth), Gainsborough (away at Whitby) and Hyde (away at FC United) all win. The highest we can finish is 12th, if the results of Radcliffe (away at Scarborough), Nantwich (away at Bamber Bridge), Ashton (away at Stafford) and Mickleover (at home to Lancaster) all go in our favour. Of course, if South Shields put enough past Grantham and we beat Buxton…