Scunthorpe United v Chesterfield Tips | 6th January 2015

THE FA Cup third round concludes on Tuesday night but who’s Mark O’Haire (@MarkOHaire) backing when Scunthorpe take on Chesterfield?

Scunthorpe United v Chesterfield | Tuesday 19.45

A place in the FA Cup fourth round is on offer for the winner of Tuesday night’s tie but rather than focusing our efforts on who’ll progress, I’m much more interested in the goals markets.

Scunthorpe have started to click into gear. It’s taken time and also saw record-breaking manager Russ Wilcox sacked but under Mark Robins’ tutelage, the Iron are going in the right direction.

In League One action, Scunny have W5-D4-L1 of their last 10 outings and won back-to-back games at Glanford Park. Yes, the hosts do look a little on the large side when priced up at 21/10 with BetVictor but Chesterfield are awkward opponents.

The visitors have recovered from their rocky patch to record W3-D4-L1 in their past eight league matches and with just four defeats from 12 on the road, Paul Cook’s men are adept at getting results on their travels.

So having scoured the markets, it’s Bet365’s Over 2.5 Goals and Both Teams To Score offering that makes most appeal at 11/10. There’s no doubt that Chesterfield have tightened up, especially when playing away, in recent weeks but we simply can’t ignore the fact they’ve managed only four clean sheets in league football during 2014/15.

With seven of their 12 away League One games featuring Over 2.5 Goals and eight of those fixtures also delivering for Both Teams To Score backers, I’m happy to side with the long-term trends.

And those stats are backed up by Scunthorpe’s record this season. A whopping 15/21 (71%) of the Iron’s league outings have seen three goals or more whilst 16 of them have also produced BTTS winners.

Mark Robins’ men have kept just one clean sheet all season and so it would be no surprise to see another goal-laden game at Glanford Park on Tuesday night. So the 11/10 on Bet365’s Over 2.5 Goals and Both Teams To Score bet has to be taken.