THERE’S no Championship football this weekend but Mark O’Haire (@MarkOHaire) has still found three bets to share from League One and League Two.
Coventry City v Notts County | Saturday 15.00
“The worst performance I’ve ever witness from a group of professional footballers” was how one Covetntry fan described their embarrassing FA Cup defeat at home to 11/1 shots Worcester last weekend. Our own Gavin Horsfall (@GHorsfall) wondered whether Steven Pressley would even last the week, so bad was the display from the Sky Blues.
Coventry aim to get back on track with a visit of Notts County and it’s difficult to find any positives for home supporters. The hosts have lost seven of their past 12 fixtures and conceded at least twice in eight of their most recent 10 outings. It doesn’t bode well for the weekend.
County arrive on the back of just two defeats in 16 in all competitions and with just one loss to their name on the road – that came in a League Cup tie back in August at Sheffield Wednesday. Shaun Derry’s guided the Magpies to an impressive five wins in seven on their travels with the visitors netting two goals or more in four of those fixtures.
I’m going to back Notts County to repeat the trick at the Ricoh and score Over 1.5 Goals at a tasty 2/1 with Coral.
Yeovil Town v Fleetwood Town | Saturday 15.00
I opposed Yeovil in the FA Cup last weekend and they managed to scrape a 1-0 win at home to Crawley to progress to the second round. But the cracks that have appeared at Huish Park haven’t yet been plastered over and I still feel there’s mileage in going against Gary Johnson’s men.
Fleetwood’s away record of just two wins from eight in League One football doesn’t exactly inspire but it’s intriguing to note they’ve already been to five of the current top-nine in the division. A trip to the Glovers should give Gary Alexander’s charges a real chance to improve on that win ratio on the road.
When looking through Fleetwood’s recent fixtures I noted they were quite often fast out of the blocks. The Cod Army sprinted into a 2-0 lead at Preston before a Deepdale onslaught saw them collapse to a 3-2 defeat but that wasn’t an anomaly.
In fact, Fleetwood have scored the first in 10/16 (62%) league matches this season including in 5/8 62%) away from home. They’ve also been first out of the traps in seven of their last eight games in League One action. We can back Fleetwood to repeat the trick at 6/5 (Bet365) this weekend.
For Yeovil’s part, they’ve broken the deadlock in just 5/16 (31%) league outings in 2014/15 and in only 3/8 (37%) in front of their home fans. The Glovers have been shutout in three successive League One showdowns and have failed to score in five of their last seven too. So take the Cod Army to strike first.
Shrewsbury Town v Mansfield Town | Saturday 15.00
You won’t get rich backing Shrewsbury in the Match Prices this weekend. We’ve talked about Salop many a time and it’s often to highlight their apparent Jekyll and Hyde home and away record. It makes Micky Mellon’s side an excellent accumulator selection when at the New Meadow but a coupon-buster when on the road.
Rather than suggest taking anything too short this weekend, Shrewsbury-Shrewsbury in the Half-Time-Full-Time market should be considered at an inflated 29/20 with Ladbrokes. The Shrews have rolled out five successive League Two wins alongside a brave 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in the Capital One Cup and a solid 2-2 draw at Walsall in the FA Cup last weekend. It’s fair to say, Shrewsbury are in-form.
When playing at the New Meadow, Mellon’s men have taken 22 points from a possible 24 in League Two football this season, scoring 19 goals and keeping five clean sheets. They’ve also been ahead at the interval in half of their eight home games. Amazingly, if you include their results as hosts for the last time they played at this level with their 2014/15 return, the Shrews have W25-D6-L0. Now that’s form.
Mansfield have been in the midst of an injury crisis in recent weeks so will be pleased to have had a week off following their postponement against Concord Rangers last weekend. The Stags are winless in seven, failing to even score in four of those matches.
The visitors have lost half of their 18 games in all competitions this season, have lost half of their eight away league games, failed to score in half of their away league games and trailed at half-time in half of their away league games. The 29/20 from Ladbrokes looks a decent play.
Best Bets
Coventry v Notts County – Notts County to score Over 1.5 Goals (2/1 Coral)
Yeovil v Fleetwood – Fleetwood to score first (6/5 Bet365)
Shrewsbury v Mansfield – Shrewsbury-Shrewsbury (29/20 Ladbrokes)
