"Bucks aiming to maintain unbeaten home run in Tuesday night tussle"

Match Date : February 7th, 2023 7:45 pm
Competition : National League North
Ground : New Bucks Head
Kick Off : 19:45

The Bucks are preparing for another crunch clash this Tuesday, when Kevin Wilkin’s men host Farsley Celtic.

The two sides finished level on 37 points last season, both narrowly avoiding relegation on the last day of the season. It’s perhaps of little surprise, then, that both clubs find themselves at the wrong end of the table again – albeit 22nd-place Celtic are closer to safety than the Bucks and have also reached the last 16 of the FA Trophy.

Like the Bucks, Farsley went through three managers last season. After Adam Lakeland left for Curzon Ashton in October, Neil Ross held the reins for a brief and unsuccessful spell before Russ Wilcox took charge at the start of February. In his first role as manager, Wilcox led Scunthorpe United to a 2nd place finish in League Two during the 2013/14, going unbeaten in his first 28 games – an unofficial world record at the time. But after a poor start to life in League One, Wilcox left Scunthorpe and moved on to York City. He left Bootham Crescent in October 2015 after just one year with the Minstermen.

Celtic’s squad remains largely similar, with seasoned campaigners including Dave Syers, Chris Atkinson, Lewis Turner and Tom Allan providing experience in key areas. Up front, Jimmy Spencer, Luke Parkin and Frank Mulhern all have the ability to cause defences trouble, with Mulhern leading the way with eight goals apiece so far this term.

Farsley head into the game on the back of three wins from five. Those three victories came at home, while they lost the other two which were both away. At that pattern shows up in their general record, having picked up just eight of their points on the road this season. In fact, Celtic are without an away league win since October, when they won at Kidderminster Harriers.

Kevin Wilkin’s men, meanwhile, are unbeaten in five on home soil, and the Bucks tend to do well against at the New Bucks Head. The Bucks have won three of the last four meetings between the sides in Shropshire, including a much needed 2-0 win last October that ended a run of six straight defeats. Kevin Wilkin will be hoping for a repeat of that result, as the Bucks look for three crucial points on Tuesday.

---

MATCHDAY INFORMATION

Tickets for Tuesday’s fixture will remain on sale up until kick-off and are available for purchase online here. For more information, please read our match guide.