National League - Improving O's to make their mark against Moors

NON-LEAGUE expert Paul Maddison (@LouthBigDog) shares his favourite fancies from Tuesday night's action.

Leyton Orient v Solihull Moors | Tuesday 4th September 2018, 19.45

With eight games of the season played, just two points separate the top seven teams. Leyton Orient and Solihull sit in fifth and sixth respectively, both on 16 points, one behind league leaders Wrexham.

The O's remain unbeaten thus far with four wins and four draws – all four of those wins coming in their last five games. They seem to have tightened up defensively, conceding just once in their last four outings, keeping three clean sheets in the process.

Going forward, Orient look very impressive; youngster Josh Koroma has looked a real handful and Macauley Bonne is getting plenty of chances and so I feel it's only a matter of time before he starts to find the back of the net as often as he did last season.

Solihull have had a great start – not many would have expected them to be occupying a play-off spot at this early stage. The Moors began with three wins on the bounce, but have since lost away to both Fylde and Harrogate. There's no shame in that though, not many teams will pick up points at those two.

Solihull do tend to be much stronger playing at home, mind. It was their incredible home form at the end of last season which managed to get them out of trouble when they looked strong candidates for relegation at one point.

My money is on the home side here with decent looking odds of 21/20 with Betway.

AFC Fylde vs Salford | Tuesday 4th September 2018, 19.45

Fylde are another team who have made a very strong start to the season. Danny Rowe has picked up where he left off last season, finding the net seven times in his opening eight matches, including a stunning free kick against Ebbsfleet in his last outing.

So far they seem much more solid at the back, conceding just four goals in their eight games, only top of the league Wrexham can match that.

The Coasters home form has been particularly impressive, picking up 10 points from a possible 12.

Salford just don't seem to be able to get going and put any sort of a run together as yet.

Last Saturday was the ideal game, against a struggling side, to put another three points on the board. They ended up drawing 0-0 against Dagenham, although they did have Danny Lloyd sent off near the end of the first half for a dive in the penalty area, picking up a second booking. That means the ex-Peterborough man will be suspended here.

I'm stealing a stat from Mark O'Haire here, it's one that I found quite surprising. Eight out of Salford's 12 goals so far this season have come from either headers, penalties or have been from outside the box.

It's something I kept an eye on whilst watching the highlights from the Dagenham game and a large majority of Salford's shots were from quite a way out, even before the sending off.

I'm backing another home win here, odds of 71/50 with Marathon look more than reasonable to me.