Halifax travel to Brewery Field for a heavyweight National League One bout just eight days before the sides meet again in the Northern Rail Cup at the Shay.

Celtic, last season's National League Two champions, are hotly tipped for a Super League licence in 2009, but have made a stuttering start to life in the second tier of the professional game, edging past Dewsbury on Good Friday before slipping to a convincing defeat against Sheffield, who had been beaten 52-28 at the Shay in round one, on Easter Monday.

And Dixon, a former member of the Brisbane Broncos staff who coached Fax's veteran Australian Damian Gibson when the full back "was about 15", is concerned his expensively assembled full timers do not slip too far behind early pace setters Fax and Salford.

"I am really aware that every point you get at this stage of the season, whether it's three points for a win or a bonus point for a loss, is really important," said Dixon.

"Points lost now can be hard to get back down the track, when clubs start to pick up injuries and other factors come into play.

"We did pretty well against Dewsbury on Good Friday, but our performance at Sheffield did not match that.

"We would like to think we can get back on track on Saturday, but we have a pretty fair football team coming down here to play us.

"Halifax have been the form team of the competition so far, along with Salford, and put 50 points on a team we struggled to score six against.

"They certainly look to have some tries in them."

Dixon confessed to not studying Matt Calland's side on video prior to this weekend, but is clearly aware of the threat they pose.

"We know all about Graham Holroyd, Sean Penkywicz, Shad Royston and the rest," said Dixon.

"But I know from watching the Crusaders that they can be a very different footy team from one week to the next.

"For that reason, we'll focus on ourselves and facing the challenges in front of us."