National League: Harrogate to come unstuck at Mill Farm

NON-LEAGUE expert Paul Maddison (@LouthBigDog) shares his favourite fancy from Wednesday night's National League play-off contest.

Fylde v Harrogate | Wednesday 1st May 2019, 19:00 | BT Sport

The National League play-offs differ slightly from the Football League format, with the winner of this one-legged tie going on to face an away trip to Solihull Moors, who finished the season in second.

Both clubs knew that they had reached the play-offs before the last game of the campaign, so unsurprisingly their respective managers decided to make quite a few changes and rest several key players. Therefore, not too much can be read into either teams result on Saturday.

Dave Challinor's hosts have been excellent at home this season, winning 15 of their 23 encounters at Mill Farm and picking up just four defeats (one of which came at the weekend after resting several players). Only Wrexham have picked up more points on home turf.

Harrogate have undeniably had a great first season in the National League and have surpassed almost everyone's expectations. The Yorkshire-based club have seen a dip in form in recent weeks though, picking up just 11 points in their last 10 fixtures, a run that sees them 19th in the division over that period.

I think this could be the end of the road for Simon Weaver's visitors though; the hosts look to have much more quality on the ball in attacking areas with the likes of Danny Philliskirk, Ryan Croasdale and Danny Rowe all more than capable of causing them problems.

For that reason, I'm backing the home side to win inside 90 minutes at 23/20 with Betway.

I'm also taking the 13/10 with Paddy Power on Danny Rowe to score at anytime. The Fylde front man has been in excellent form again this season, picking up the National League Player of the Season award and Golden Boot, both for the second year running.

Rowe has netted 31 goals in all competitions this season, including two against Harrogate earlier in the campaign.