For the first time in a few weeks all 24 sides are in action in League Two on Saturday, weather permitting that is, and with us now well past the halfway mark in the campaign each passing round of matches takes on extra significance.
The matches for Saturday are as follows:
Bristol Rovers v Plymouth
Cambridge v Hartlepool
Carlisle v York
Exeter v Accrington
Mansfield v Luton
Newport v Dag & Red
Northampton v Morecambe
Notts County v Wimbledon
Portsmouth v Oxford Utd
Stevenage v Barnet
Wycombe v Leyton Orient
Yeovil v Crawley
There are a couple of standout fixtures in this round of matches. Bristol Rovers vs Plymouth is a battle of two sides in the top five in the table as is Portsmouth vs Oxford and both games could have a big say in the promotion picture.
At the other end of the table Newport vs Dagenham and Redbridge looks a huge game while Stevenage against Barnet could yet be significant further down the line. Yeovil will be looking to pull away from trouble when they host Crawley.
I always think January is a tough time to bet in this division because the turnover in players is quite high and this season the manager turnover in the last month or so has been pretty vast too and as such there isn’t a huge amount I like the look of in this set of matches it must be said.
While the squads settle down and teams find their mojo and rhythm again I’ll play things a little bit cautiously and I’ll go with just the two in this round of games, both of which look pretty solid to me.
The first of those bets comes in Carlisle where Carlisle United return home for the first time since the floods that hit the Cumbria area. They host a pretty poor York side at Brunton Park.
In fairness to Carlisle they didn’t miss home too much as they were able to pick up a substantial number of points in the neutral grounds they played in but the people of the town will be on a real high going into this game.
Not only are the football team back home but they have a home FA Cup match with Everton to look forward to next week where the clamour for tickets was huge as you would imagine so the place will be really rocking and this should be a real occasion.
York go into the game off the back of disappointing defeats to Yeovil and Newport and Jackie McNamara is in the middle of a clear out of his squad which isn’t helping things. They have a massive turnaround to do internally as well as in the division and a confident Carlisle in front of a bouncing stadium could be the last thing they need.
I’ll take Carlisle to pick up a win on their return to their home ground to give something extra to all those who have suffered.
The other match which catches me is at St James’ Park where Exeter host Accrington in what should be an entertaining match. Both sides like to get the ball down and knock it around and both are light years better going forward than they are in defence.
In Tom Nichols and Josh Windass, should he play, we’ve got two of the better forwards in the league on show here but the creativity around them should open up the opposite defence quite often.
Exeter might be a little fatigued the longer this match goes on as they were given the run around at Anfield in midweek and we might see a mistake or two from them at the back. Accrington can certainly take advantage of that so I like over 2.5 goals here.
When the two sides met in the reverse fixture Accrington ran out 4-2 winners. Their last two matches have had over 2.5 goals while three of Exeter’s last four in the league have too and the other had two exactly. Add to that just two of the nine meetings between the sides have had under 2.5 goals and I’m firmly with the overs here.
Back Carlisle to beat York for a 4/10 stake at 1.70 with Bet365
Back Exeter vs Accrington – Over 2.5 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
