Saturday sees the start of another busy period for clubs in League Two as all 24 of them face three matches in the next eight days heading into the next FA Cup break, a run which could well define how seasons will pan out.
The fixtures for Saturday are as follows: (all 3pm kick offs)
Wimbledon v Wycombe
Barnet v Morecambe
Cambridge v Accrington
Carlisle v Portsmouth
Crawley v Bristol Rovers
Dag & Red v Oxford Utd
Leyton Orient v York
Mansfield v Hartlepool
Newport v Yeovil
Notts County v Northampton
Plymouth v Exeter
Stevenage v Luton
This is one of those interesting cards with some short prices, some fair prices, some solid odds against prices and some big prices so this will be a popular division for punters on Saturday I’m sure.
Four sides are odds on across the division this week. Oxford are very short away to Dagenham and Redbridge. You would probably say that is justified but I’m never an away side at odds on backer so that is an easy swerve for me.
Leyton Orient are strong odds on at home to York. Personally I don’t think that is justified but I see why Orient are favourites. You’ll never ever get me backing them at such skinny odds though. Regular readers will know I don’t rate them one bit and anyone who tuned in to Sky’s double header last week will have seen why.
Apparently their players have been confined to a hotel ever since then to enhance team bonding or some such nonsense so it will be interesting to see what effect that has. Sadly York are nothing special so I can’t really take Orient on this week so that match is another that’s easily left alone.
Mansfield are the next side who are odds on. They’re at home to Hartlepool and they’re nothing like certainties to win that. Since their manager got a bit giddy and advertised the Stags as promotion candidates they’ve beaten Yeovil in the 98th minute and gone five matches without a win.
I believe epic fail is the phrase to describe that confident nonsense coming out of Adam Murray’s overused mouth. I have to admit I was tempted by Hartlepool here especially as they served me well last week but they are riddled by injuries so I’ll leave them alone.
Plymouth are the last side who are odds on and if you looked purely at the league table you’d probably back them to beat Exeter at 5/6 but that’s too short for me in a derby and I have to say I don’t think Argyle are as good as their league position suggests. Sadly Exeter have hit a mixed patch so that might be another one to leave alone.
A bet I nearly took was the overs in the Notts County vs Northampton match but Izale McLeod is suspended for the hosts and Ricky Holmes remains absent for the visitors so maybe the goal potential isn’t as high as it usually is when the Magpies are at home.
The rest of the matches look fairly close. Sadly I’m a bit late to the party this weekend for one reason or another and I’ve missed the juicier prices on Luton. Stevenage are nothing special but they’ve added some catchy loan signings so the prices might be about right there now.
There are two home sides I like in this division this weekend though. The first of those is Barnet against Morecambe. I saw Barnet at first hand last weekend and they were hard working enough.
Luton’s defence snuffed out the quality Barnet have up front but you can’t argue with the credentials of John Akinde nor Michael Gash and I don’t see Morecambe’s defence stopping the pair. Martin Allen has some good options around that pair too so I like Barnet here.
Morecambe were shown up in the FA Cup by Dagenham & Redbridge in their last outing and that can’t be a good thing to have had to dwell on for a couple of weeks. Peter Murphy remains on the sidelines for Morecambe who are nothing like as effective against the lesser sides as they are the better ones so Barnet look a nice play here.
At the beginning of the season I was heavily against Newport but they wised up to their problem much quicker than most do these days and gave Terry Butcher the boot at the first opportunity and since hiring John Sheridan they’ve been rewarded for the decision.
That isn’t a surprise to anyone. Sheridan is experienced at this level and knows what it takes and his side have put together a nice little run in recent weeks. Zak Ansah was forced to miss the FA Cup match in midweek as he wasn’t granted access to play by Charlton but he’s back this week and I like that.
Yeovil are still struggling to put a solid team out with the injuries they are contending with. To be fair to Paul Sturrock’s men they have had a couple of confidence boosting results in the cups this month and were seconds from beating Stevenage last week but they’re not much of a side.
Newport aren’t great but they’re much better under Sheridan and the former Chesterfield and Plymouth boss can continue his rebuilding in South Wales with a win here.
Back Barnet (-0.25AH) to beat Morecambe for a 4/10 stake at 1.82 with Unibet
Back Newport (-0.25AH) to beat Yeovil for a 4/10 stake at 1.82 with Unibet
Blog football YTD: -22.71pts
