Football – England – Conference Premier
Saturday 17th January 2015 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Having won three of their last four in the Conference Premier, hosts Altrincham will go into today’s clash with Torquay United with a fair amount of confidence behind them as they look to continue their upturn in results.
Recent wins over Chester (away and home, 2-0 and 4-1 respectively) and Eastleigh (2-0 away) has kept Altrincham away from the relegation area, and another three points today could lift them up into a mid-table position.
Alty’s overall home record stands at 6-3-6 19/22 and they’ve lost just once in their last five. Their leading goalscorer is the prolific Damien Reeves (13 goals) and he’s accounted for 35% of Altrincham’s total goal output so far this season. He’s actually scored a total of 126 goals in 200 matches for Altrincham to date!
Visitors Torquay United will be very aware that they’ve failed to win in their last five league matches as they head up to Altrincham for this encounter with their play-off hopes beginning to dwindle. Defeats to Braintree Town and Bristol Rovers along with draws against Welling United, Bristol Rovers and Alfreton Town have really pegged them back, so I expect them to come out firing this afternoon in an attempt to make up for lost ground.
Just one win from their last ten on the road tells its own story as The Gulls have really struggled to come to terms with this very difficult division, and their away record stands at a below-par 4-4-7 21/24. However, for this tip I’m more concerned about goalscoring potential, and they’re the fifth highest goalscorers away from home in the Conference.
Look to forwards Bowman and Briscoe as anytime goalscorers for the visitors.
Altrincham in pretty good form in addition to Torquay who are keen to kick-start their play-off hopes should mean both sides hit the net here, particularly with Altrincham having kept just two clean sheets on home turf so far. Could be a 1-1 draw.
Pick: Both teams to score – Yes @ 1.67 bet365
