Table toppers Celtic visit Showgrounds

Lurgan Celtic are the visitors to the Showgrounds after they defeated Moyola Park last weekend to move into first place.

Celtic defeated Moyola 2-0, only their second defeat of the season in Belfast Telegraph Championship Two.

United are four places below the visitors in fifth and they are six points better off from the same amount of games.

In their ten games so far this season they have seven times, drawn twice and lost just the once.

They have scored twenty-four times in those ten fixtures allowing only one goal per game at the other end, the least of any side in the league.

There has been a Lurgan Celtic Football Club since 1903, although it has to be said that little is known about the club from these early days.

It is known that Lurgan Celtic has gone in and out of existence on several occasions, especially during the war years and also in periods of civil unrest.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s they reformed however the outbreak of the Troubles later on in that decade saw the club once again forced to withdraw from their respective leagues.

The mid-to-late 1970s saw the club reform and enjoy relative success in the Mid-Ulster league with varied Cup success.

A new decade saw the team once more fall on hard times as Northern Ireland entered another dark period of its history.

Since that and after reforming under the leadership of Barry Douglas the club has not looked back. For several years they played in the Mid-Ulster league climbing the divisions in successive seasons.

This local success was not enough for the severely committed Douglas. The acquisition of a lease for Grattan Park meant that Lurgan Celtic could now fulfil the criteria for intermediate football.

They entered the league in the 2002/03 season and have been there ever since as they look to push forward.

Going into this game United manager Neil Mullan knows how tough this game will be for his team.

“I know a bit about them and I know that they will be a very physical team and we have to be able to deal with that,” he said.

“I’ve been told that they are very pacy out wide as well so that’s something else that we need to plan for.

“However no matter whom we are playing as long as we go and compete then I feel that we will always do ok.

“That said going forward especially we are more than a threat for any team in the league no matter what.

“We should have a few players back in the squad as well which gives us a bit more than we had last week,” he concluded.

Going into the game United should have a few players back from injury as they have been missing a lot of players recently.