The Skybet League Two season continues to race along at a rapid rate and the majority of sides in the division play their eighth league game on Saturday.
The fixture list for Saturday is as follows:
Accrington v Exeter
Wimbledon v Notts County
Barnet v Stevenage
Crawley v Yeovil
Dag & Red v Newport
Hartlepool v Cambridge
Leyton Orient v Wycombe
Luton v Mansfield
Morecambe v Northampton
Oxford Utd v Portsmouth
Plymouth v Bristol Rovers
York v Carlisle
When I look at this set of fixtures it looks a fairly tricky card to me. The obvious stand out clash comes from the Kassam Stadium as the two pre-season favourites Oxford and Portsmouth do battle. There doesn’t appear to be an edge or an angle into the game though so that doesn’t appeal to me betting wise.
Not many do it has to be said. Having taken the overs in Luton’s game last week I was thinking of doing it again this week especially as the home side are missing their star defender Scott Cuthbert through suspension but manager John Still has gone public with his desire to see his side cut out mistakes so they might be slightly more cautious or at least remain concentrated throughout this game so I’m put off there.
There are three bets I do like though and they are all on home sides which always makes me feel a little more confident.
The first one is my now traditional fade of Newport. Dagenham lost for the first time in five matches last week but that wasn’t before they took the lead away to Carlisle. Wayne Burnett was very critical of his side after that match so I’m expecting a response from them here.
Newport continue to pick up nothing in terms of results and while you could argue they were unlucky to lose last week having conceded a late penalty bad teams do bad things and I remain convinced they are one of them.
Dagenham might not be the best side in the world but they’ve been doing ok this season and can get a result against a woeful Welsh side.
Plymouth have made a good start to the season and are often a tough nut to crack on home soil and I think they’ll be tough for Bristol Rovers to crack here.
Rovers began life back in the league well and were on the crest of a really good run away from home but that was burst at Leyton Orient a few weeks ago and they’ve lost back to back home games since then so they head to Home Park needing a win.
I don’t see them getting it though. Plymouth are going well and they have Rueben Reid back on the pitch now to strengthen them even further and I expect them to get the job done here.
My last bet is more a fade of Carlisle than anything else. I always like to take sides on who have a big match coming up and Carlisle certainly have that with a trip to Anfield on Wednesday night so any 50/50 tackles might not be competed for as strongly on Saturday as they might be on a different day and that could be crucial.
In fairness I don’t think York are much of a side but they’ve got some firepower at long last and might make an impression in this match. Rhys Murphy is decent enough at this level as is Emile Sinclair and signs are that Russell Wilcox might open his side up and go on the offensive.
I like the sound of that and with Carlisle’s players not wanting to miss Wednesday’s huge game and potentially staying safe as a precaution I’ll chance York in this one.
Back Dagenham & Redbridge (-0.25AH) to beat Newport for a 4/10 stake at 1.97 with BetVictor
Back Plymouth (-0.25AH) to beat Bristol Rovers for a 4/10 stake at 2.06 with BetVictor
Back York to beat Carlisle for a 4/10 stake at 2.15 with Coral
Blog football YTD: -24.58pts
