Saturday, September 04, 2010

SATURDAY ....


DIVISION 1
TRANMERE ROVERS - PETERBOROUGH UNITED

I have already talked in detail about Tranmere's dire problems this season, they are operating on a tiny budget, one of the smallest in the division and boss Les Parry is forced to try and cobble together a squad with a mixture of youngsters and cast offs from other clubs. They started the season with a big injury list and those problems have got worse in the last week and today they will be without a number of key players in defence and pretty much most of their midfield, they have conceded 9 goals in four starts at Prenton Park and are hardly on fire at the other end of the pitch with just 26 attempts on goal in four league outings. They meet a Posh side who are have been extremely active in the transfer market and who are pushing for a swift return to the Championship, they are very potent up front with 17 goals in six starts, their midfield is creating an enormous number of chances for the strikers and look set to have a field day against this weakened Rovers side, especially in the centre of the park. Posh are averaging almost 8 chances more per game than Tranmere an incredible six of which are "on target", these are very big numbers and a clear indicator of the gap between these two clubs, albeit being within in the same division. I have to make the visitors my strongest bet of the day.

Peterborough -0.5 2.0 general quote

DIVISION 2
BARNET- CHELTENHAM TOWN

Barnet are a club in trouble, I always read that they have a good group of players and that things are about to turn around, but the truth is I have not seen any of this, money is tight at Underhill, they have a mixture of untried youngsters and too old pros and anyone of ability is quick to leave and the bottom line is that they have won just five times in 36 league games. They are not a team I want to be backing anytime soon and I favour the visitors off level ball today. I saw Town at Brentford last month, they ran into a strong Bees performance in the first half and went in 2-0 down, but changed things around at the break and kept battling away, pulled a goal back and almost found an equaliser, they were definitely best in the second period.They looked like a team with an attcking threat that night and that has certainly been the case since, beating Crewe 3-2 next time out, it is worth noting that the week after this Alex put seven (!) past Barnet. They then raced into a 3-1 lead away at Rotherham, who are usually very tight at the Don Valley where they have only conceded 19 in 24, before losing 6-4 in "one of those games". Last week they again showed terrific character to come from a goal down to win and end Burton's unbeaten start to the season.Despite the goals conceded, I like what I have seen of the Robins and I can see them pushing for a top seven spot, they are averaging 5.5 attempts on goal per game more than Barnet and off level ball look decent value.

Cheltenham level ball 1.95 asian line.

Good Luck.

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