Football – England – League Two
Friday 16th November 2012 – Kickoff: 2000hrs
Joint bottom club of League Two, Barnet, take on Accrington Stanley at Underhill on Friday night with the hosts looking to post a third successive home win and climb out of the relegation places.
At first glance, you’re probably wondering why I’m backing Barnet in this fixture – second from bottom on goal difference and some eight points adrift of their opponents tonight, but I’ll put forward some details that hopefully support my pick in tonight’s fixture.
Until last weekend when they lost at Morecambe 1-4, Barnet had put together a decent four match unbeaten run which included wins over Northampton town 4-0, Chesterfield 1-0 and 8th placed Torquay United 1-0 along with a draw at Wycombe Wanderers which has greatly increased their prospects of survival.
Back at home for this Friday, they take on an Accrington Stanley outfit who have won on just three occasions in their last eighteen away matches, with their last win coming at struggling AFC Wimbledon at the end of September. Since that win, Stanley have suffered losses at Torquay United 1-3 and a 0-5 thrashing at Oxford United but they did get a point at Morecambe.
Barnet’s home record stands at a modest 2-2-4 10/13, with key players such as striker Jon Nurse, Jake Hyde and player-manager and new signing, Edgar Davids! The latter signing resembling the endeavours of a participant in the virtual footballing world of Football Manager!
Onto the visitors then, and as mentioned, Accrington have had a torrid time of it on the road in the past four or five months actually if you include last season as well, with their three away wins of the last eighteen coming at Southend United, Cheltenham Town and AFC Wimbledon.
Overall, Stanley have won just once in their last seven League Two matches and have been defeated against Rochdale, Torquay United, Oxford United, York City and Northampton Town.
Their away record stands at 3-2-3 11/14 which appears to be okay but they’ve drawn a blank in their last two matches on the road. Irishman Padraig Amond (7 goals), Romauld Boco (5 goals) and Luke Joyce (3 assists) are the dangers going forward, but don’t forget they’ve kept just 3 clean sheets in their last 17 matches which gives Barnet a chance here tonight.
I’ll therefore back Barnet with home advantage to get at least a draw tonight, in which case with the draw no bet option the worst case scenario is we get our stake returned.
Possible result of Barnet 1 Accrington Stanley 0
Pick: Barnet AH0 (Draw No Bet) @ 1.83 Pinnacle is worth a go
