On Tuesday, Celtic host Nantwich Town in the re-arranged fixture. Nantwich are currently thirteenth in the table on twenty-six points, five places and eight points behind Celtic. Kick-off is 7:45pm, weather permitting.

Nantwich are on a run of four straight defeats, losing 5-3 at home on Saturday to Vauxhall Motors. Their last five away games, though, have seen them win two, draw one and lose two, beating Vauxhall and Trafford both 1-0, getting a 1-1 draw away at Darlaston. The losses were a 3-0 at Newcastle, and, in their most recent away game, 1-0 at Avro. They have played nine games away from home this season, winning three, drawing one and losing five. Their last ten, overall, have seen them win two, draw one and lose seven dropping them down the table from seventh to thirteenth. They looked to have turned their season around in October, winning three on the bounce, and five overall in a seven game period, losing two, making them a top form team in October.

With seven goals, Alex Panter is their current league top scorer, though with only one goal away from home, Byron Harrison ahs scored the most away from Nantwich, with three. Only Newcastle have scored fewer away goals than Nantwich’s six this season, giving them the second worst away attack in the league, though with eleven conceded, only Bury, Avro and Runcorn have conceded fewer on the road giving them the fourth best away defence. On average they score 0.7 goals per away game (1.2 overall) whilst conceding 1.2 goals per away game (1.6 overall), keeping two of their five clean sheets on the road, and failing to score four times (five overall).

The last four meetings have all gone the way of the home team with twenty-one goals scored. Their last visit to Bower Fold finished 4-2 to Celtic, with a brace from Lewis Rawsthorn and one each for Liam Tongue and Jack Irlam. Irlam was also on the score sheet in their previous visit, when Celtic won 3-2, scoring the winner deep into stoppage time, after Darius Osei equalised also in stoppage time. Max Harrop scored Celtic’s other goal in that match from the spot. In their last ten visits, Celtic have won five, Nantwich four and there was one draw back in 2018. Nantwich’s last win here was in 2018 when they won 2-1, following the previous season’s 5-1 win over Celtic at Bower Fold, both games in the Northern Premier League.

In Nantwich’s last match, the 5-3 home defeat to Vauxhall, Nantwich lined up as:
1. Ben Garratt
2. James Baillie
3. Byron Moore
4. Joel Connolly
5. Josh Langley
6. Patrick Kennedy
7. George Cooper
8. Joe Robbins
9. Byron Harrison
10. Oliver Finney
11. Alex Panter

In Celtic’s last match, the 3-2 away win over Darlaston, Celtic lined up as:
1. Charlie Monks
2. Mike Koral
3. Kyle Brownhill
4. Aaron Chalmers
5. Charlie Doyle
6. Jack Tinning
7. Jordan Butterworth
8. Liam Tongue
9. Ruben Jerome
10. Brandon Newell
11. Jack Irlam

Benni Smales-Braithwaite limped off against Darlaston and will have to be assessed.

There are two other games on Tuesday, Congelton v Newcastle and Runcorn v Lower Breck. The former will have no impact whether Celtic win, lose or draw, but the other gives Celtic a chance to overtake Runcorn if we win and they don’t, putting us either third or fourth, depending on the number of goals scored, level on points with Vauxhall. If Celtic win and Runcorn win, we’ll be fourth or fifth, with both teams closing in on the top two.