Football Bet of the Day: Royal rumble at the Crown Ground

Accrington v Rochdale
Tuesday 19:45

We were on the right side of a remarkable game in Portugal last night, as Tondela came from 0-2 down at half-time to beat Portimonense 3-2. Ricardo Costa, scorer of the 85th-minute winner, even had time to pick up two yellow cards in the 94th and 95th minutes.

Today we’re fighting the good fight on the domestic front. Accrington Stanley host Rochdale in a League One six pointer tonight and we fancy both teams to trouble the scorers.

John Coleman’s hosts are 17th in the table, six places higher than their visitors, but only three points clear of them. Accrington have lost four in a row at the Crown Ground, but those matches have all been against teams in the top half of the table. They have fared better against sides now in the bottom half, going W4-D3-L2. Crucially for us, both teams scored in seven of those nine matches.

Newly confirmed as Rochdale’s permanent manager, Brian Barry-Murphy has taken charge of a team that is now 12 away days without a clean sheet. Home and away, the record is one clean sheet in 21. More impressively, the Dale have scored themselves in 16/19 on the road this season. Among their trips to bottom-half outfits, there have been goals at both ends in 7/9. BTTS is an odds-on shot for tonight’s game, but everything we’ve seen suggests it’s the right bet.