On Tuesday Celtic travel to the Midlands again to take on Nuneaton Borough for a 7:45pm kick-off. Whilst the Warwickshire-based side have had a good start to the season, their past couple of games have not lived up to their high standards.
In their opening exchanges, Nuneaton beat Ashton and Gainsborough, but were unable to beat any other ex-Unibond sides, with their other three wins coming against Hinckley, Moor Green and Stafford ? teams that they ?know?. Bradford, Barrow and Vauxhall all got draws against Boro, and Hucknall and Southport both beat them.
In their last two home games, Nuneaton have lost (Southport and Hucknall) with the latter team putting three past them. Reading the Nuneaton forums, it would appear that Nuneaton are currently going through a bit of a rough patch, and if ever there was a time to play them, Tuesday is it.
We met Nuneaton last in our last foray into the Conference, and they were one of the few teams that we beat at Bower Fold, with that infamous Ayorinde hat-trick that has ensured that he will live long in the memory of Celtic fans. Ayorinde, for those interested, is currently plying his trade in China.
Ayorinde in action against Nuneaton. Nuneaton have scored in all bar one of their games (at home to Southport), and Avun Jephcott is their top scorer, with 5 goals putting him joint 5th in the overall golden boot league. Youngster Michael Frew is one place behind him with one less goal. Nuneaton have scored throughout the second half, but in the first half are most dangerous in the opening five minutes and the final five minutes. Conceding-wise they have let in very few goals (15), with a spike on 65-70 minutes, for some reason.
Midfielders Gez Murphy and Blake Newbold, and goalkeeper Ryan Poole will all be out of contention for the match still leaving a strong Nuneaton side to contend with:
1. Darren Acton
2. Chris Tullin
3. Michael Love
4. Brian McGory
5. Steve Farmer
6. Neil Moore
7. Carl Adams
8. Gary Fitzpatrick
9. Michael Frew
10. Stuart Wilson
11. Avun Jephcott
Celtic have something of a team selection headache. Bowman, Caldecott, Pearce and Calcutt will be unavailable, but the rest of the squad is champing at the bit for places.
1. Craig Dootson
2. Dave German
3. Tony Whealing
4. Ben Smith
5. Barrie Keeling
6. Nathan Wharton
7. Scott Bonsall
8. Kevin Parr
9. Andy Hayward
10. David Moores
11. Paul Sykes
Chris Denham will probably start on the bench, but will be seen at some point. Ian Monk, scorer of one of the cheekiest Celtic goals in many a season on Saturday, will probably join him, as will Phil Eastwood, Adam Jones and Terry Bowker.
There is no reason why Celtic cannot build on their 2 wins on the trot (however won), and take something from Nuneaton, but there is no getting away from it, any slip-ups will be punished by the home side, and concentration will be required to ensure we don?t lose. The automatic prediction for the game is a 1-1 draw, but an improvement on the second half performances of the last two games will see Celtic heap misery on Nuneaton.