The latest round of Sky Bet League 1 matches take place on Saturday afternoon as the entire division are on show for the final time in league action for 10 days as there is the FA Cup break next week so each team will be looking for a morale boosting win.
This is a typical Saturday in that a couple of matches open up the day in front of the TV cameras ahead of the remaining games taking place in the normal kick off slot where updates are available in all of the usual spots.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (3pm unless stated; UK TV in brackets)
Blackpool vs Reading (12.30pm – Sky Sports+)
Stockport County vs Barnsley (12.30pm – Sky Sports+)
Bradford City vs Exeter City
Burton Albion vs Leyton Orient
Cardiff City vs Mansfield Town
Doncaster Rovers vs Peterborough United
Huddersfield Town vs AFC Wimbledon
Lincoln City vs Port Vale
Luton Town vs Bolton Wanderers
Plymouth Argyle vs Northampton Town
Rotherham United vs Wycombe Wanderers
Wigan Athletic vs Stevenage
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Big Matches
The TV cameras head to the north-west on Saturday for the two live matches. The standout one among them sees promotion chasing Stockport County hosting a Barnsley side who should be rejuvenated after their 5-0 thrashing of Luton Town last week. Blackpool host the other game in front of the cameras when Reading are the visitors to Bloomfield Road. The other standout match on the afternoon comes from Kenilworth Road where two of the favourites for promotion meet when Luton Town welcome Bolton Wanderers to Bedfordshire.
Best of the Rest
The top two are in action on Saturday afternoon. The new leaders Stevenage have an away game against Wigan Athletic to navigate while second placed Cardiff City are at home to Mansfield Town who are looking to arrest a slide of two straight defeats. Bradford City are in third but they are without a win in five matches however if one of the top two slip up then they could replace them in that part of the table should they pick up a victory when Exeter City visit Valley Parade. Lincoln City are the other team in the top six and they have a home game against bottom of the table Port Vale. Plymouth Argyle and Peterborough United occupy spots in the relegation zone at the start of play and they host Northampton Town and head to Doncaster Rovers respectively.
Betting
I like a couple of bets over the course of Saturday. The first one comes in one of the early kick offs where I like Barnsley to avoid defeat at Stockport County. I’ve seen both of these teams in the flesh this month and the Tykes looked much the better team of the two. Stockport lost 3-0 to Luton and Barnsley beat them 5-0 but the bigger concern might be the 3-0 defeat Stockport suffered at Peterborough nine days ago where they barely landed a blow on a side who are in the relegation zone. Barnsley looked a vibrant, fresh, energetic and attacking team who look like they are about to go from strength to strength and I can easily see them getting at this Stockport defence. Stockport have lost control of games since Ollie Norwood got injured and he isn’t back for this one so I would expect their struggles to continue. I’m confident that Barnsley can avoid defeat here and I’ll add a unit on the away win too.
The other bet I like is one I took a couple of weeks ago which is Lincoln City to win at home. They beat Doncaster Rovers that afternoon and now I fancy Port Vale to be beaten too. To be fair to Port Vale, statistically they are far from the worst side in the competition. Only two sides have a better xGA than them whereas at the other end of the pitch only Leyton Orient have created more big chances than Port Vale in League 1 and no team has missed more of them. Port Vale are actually tenth in the league for xG but they seem to be unable to convert the chances they create and concede easier than they should do. Lincoln have been a bit up and down in recent times but at home they are a strong side. They are 5-2-1 at home and against a Port Vale side who have just six goals in eight road games I think another home win is on the cards here.
Tips
Back Barnsley (+0.5AH) to beat Stockport County for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
Back Barnsley to beat Stockport County for a 1/10 stake at 3.60 with Bet365
Back Lincoln City to beat Port Vale for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Betfred
