Tuesday December 1
19:00 kick-offs
Injury-hit Bradford will give McCall no respite
Bradford 3.55/2 v Cheltenham 2.26/5; the draw 3.814/5
Cheltenham have at last seemed to make a concerted effort to gain promotion and are in the automatic positions after a fine run. They have four away wins this season, with 11 goals for and five against. Scoring in every league game bar one (at home to Mansfield), they are one of the biggest scorers on the road in the division this season.
Michael Duff‘s Robins don’t rely on one source for goals, either. Andy Williams might have five, but 10 other players in the squad have scored, which not something many teams can boast.
Tahvon Campbell seems to have fallen out of favour, being sent on loan to Gloucester City, but the Robins have gone from strength to strength. They defeated Crewe at their own game, finding a gem of a youngster – George Lloyd, 20 – to land the sucker punch.
Duff said after they drew their last League Two match with Cambridge he wasn’t going to cry about the result, because his side had acquitted themselves well. He also knows that Cheltenham are well placed, sitting second after just over a quarter of the season, to push on and fight for automatic promotion.
Their opponents, however, are a far less happy camp. The Bantams have dropped to fifth bottom of the table, yet Stuart McCall has signed a deal to extend his contract. That won’t appease the critics who believe there is a lack of quality and application in his squad. They can’t wait for January for more recruits. That’s if the club can afford it, of course.
There are still fitness concerns over many, including Billy Clarke whose two goals make him joint top scorer, with highly rated Wolves youngster Elliot Watt, among those who are fit. Defender Reece Staunton being ruled out for 12 weeks doens’t help, either. Lee Novak, with three, hasn’t played in a month and Bradford have eight players in total who have scored. Letting Eion Doyle leave for Swindon almost a year ago is coming back to haunt them.
With two wins and three draws this season at Valley Parade, Bradford won’t be the easiest nut to crack, but Cheltenham should have enough and the momentum to main their push for the top.
Opta also point us to the away win: Bradford have won once in eight league games; Cheltenham have lost just once the past seven times these teams have met; and the Robins have won six of their past eight matches on the road.
Hill adds just a sprinkling of seasoning
Oldham 2.89/5 v Tranmere 2.77/4; the draw 3.711/4
Visitors Tranmere probably won’t face the type of defensive wall they did against Brackley Town in the FA Cup on Friday night, when they took their unbeaten run to seven in all competitions.
New boss Keith Hill has only managed two of those, saying that he will just add ‘salt and pepper’ to what is already a winning team. It’s tougher than that of course, but he has named the same team for consecutive games. Kaiyne Woolery, a League Two winner with Swindon last season, will surely make him question that after scoring the only goal as a substitute, with his first set of touches.
Having such experience only on the bench shows their strength in depth. Whether they can launch a serious automatic promotion assault is another matter. They might have to aim for the play-offs. Hill has taken Rochdale out of this division and really must get the best out of Otis Khan and playmaker Jay Spearing if he is to do so with Rovers this season.
Much is expected of young Corey Blackett-Taylor alongside James Vaughan up front. I think there should be goals in this, despite the difficulty Tranmere had in scoring on Friday. The visitors’ away form has held them back this year, which helped get Mike Jackson sacked. But in the two games since he left they have won both on their travels, bashing in four at Port Vale. They have also scored in all those unbeaten seven.
Improving Oldham, similarly, have found the net in winning five from the last six in all competitions. A 2-0 defeat at home to Scunthorpe is the only game in which they didn’t score. And when they have scored, they have done so more than once, Ben Garrity (2) and Danny Rowe (3) leading the way.
The visitors have huge confidence at present and I am going to add over 3.5 goals, at 3.814/5, to the away win. Opta say that Oldham are looking to pick up back-to-back league wins over Tranmere for the first time since August 2010, having won their last such meeting 2-0 in April 2019. However, Oldham, they add, haven’t won three games in a row since that same month. The fact they beat Tranmere in one of those I don’t think has a huge amount of bearing on the current abilities of the teams.
Colchester on the large side to win at home
Colchester 2.47/5 v Crawley 3.412/5; the draw 3.613/5
At last! Colchester are a decent price to win at home. Usually they are much shorter. Why 2.47/5 now then? They might be ninth in the six-game form table, but there is little wrong with their form at the Community Stadium. They have won the last four there, being unbeaten this season with five wins and a draw.
There might be a few reasons why they are so high a price. Crawley have shown fine spirit away, picking a point up at Salford and taking another at Harrogate. But they lost at Walsall, 1-0, in between and their recent form isn’t great. That point at the Sulphurites was their only one in four games. Under John Yems, however, they have not lost three in a row for a while.
The Red Devils played as recently as Sunday – in the FA Cup – which is another reason to think they will not be at their freshest. Meanwhile, Colchester had a weekend of rest and recuperation without a fixture. Expect tired legs and minds from Crawley youngsters Max Watters, Jake Hesketh and Jake Hessenthaler, even if Tom Dallison has had his energy lifted after a fine performance at centre-back. The season has become a little bit gruelling.
Colchester’s 6-1 whipping at Exeter last time out will smart. Defender Tommy Smith called it unacceptable. Boss Steve Ball insisted it won’t “derail” his side’s ambitions. Tom Lapslie is lose to a return – and the first turnout of the season – after injury, while Josh Bohui, 21, formerly of Manchester United, is pressing for a first-team start after eight appearances off the bench.
In those four most recent home games they have seen off in-form Leyton Orient, Stevenage, Harrogate and fancied Forest Green. Jevani Brown scored five of his seven goals in the last two of those.
The U’s have got something to prove now having slipped out of the top seven. Boss Steve Ball will want to find out about his side’s character – whether they have the stomach for a full promotion fight. Colchester last won five in a row in February 2017, say Opta. They have four now and should be able to add another.
Wednesday 19:00 kick-off
Beech brings sunny signs of progress in a year
Carlisle 2.447/5 v Salford 3.259/4; the draw 3.613/5
As the League Two midweek fixtures make the unusual stretch into Wednesday, another team whose fans might be surprised to find they are only narrow favourites to win at home is Carlisle. The price is pushing 2.56/4 despite the Cumbrians winning five of their six at home with a 13-7 goal difference.
They put a surprise reverse against Cheltenham out of their minds with a strong 3-0 statement of intent at Crawley, then lost at in-form Tranmere.
Boss Chris Beech marked his anniversary with Carlisle by not resting on their laurels and stating the team had made a good start but they needed to improve. His appointment was taken with cynicism and indifference by fans. But most chairmen would take an improvement from 21st to seventh in 12 months. And they’d certainly take Jon Mellish‘s goals tally of seven from midfield, even if he is showing up the strikers!
Beech worked overtime last January and in the summer to overhaul the squad. Lewis Alessandra and Josh Kayode, with two each, is as close as he’s got to finding strikers who can net regularly.
Meanwhile, Salford have flattered to deceive. They exited the FA Cup with a whimper at Newport, Brandon Thomas-Assante not helping by being sent off just after half-time. Maybe, having changed nine of their line-up from the win over Morecambe, they weren’t that interested in the cup. Protecting players ahead of a busy schedule was the excuse used.
The gap to the top there is only three points – seven to the summit of League Two – but they have only won two from six away, losing the other three, with a 6-5 goals difference. They have lost their last three away.
Both teams have ambition here, but do Ian Henderson and Ashley Hunter, with five goals each, have the ability to turn that away form around? The Ammies will need to in order to be serious promotion contenders, but Richie Wellens‘ side might not get too much joy at Brunton Park against in-form hosts. Having rested all those players on Saturday, though, they might be fresh enough for a draw. Salford, add Opta, have won their last two league games but have not yet won three in a row in their one season and a bit.
Source: BetFair Tips
