Football – England – FA Cup 1st Round Replay
Tuesday 13th November 2012 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Holker Street is the next venue on Tuesday night as Barrow and Guiseley tee-off in their FA Cup first round replay following a 2-2 draw last Saturday.
Blue Square North side Guiseley surrendered a two-goal lead to Blue Square Premier Barrow after a couple of defensive mistakes cost them a memorable victory and a passage into the second round. However, they’ll have to do it the hard way on Tuesday night at Barrow.
The hosts, Barrow, have the advantage over their visitors in that they are in the top-flight of non-league football, but their season has not been going well at all thus far; The Bluebirds currently occupy a lowly 22nd place in the BSP and have won just once at home in the league. In fact, it’s just two wins at Holker Street all season so far with a league win over Southport 3-2 and qualifying for the first round of the Cup with a 2-0 home win over fellow BSP team Tamworth.
A further four draws and four losses make up their home performances and I feel this paves the way for visiting Guiseley to still have a great chance of making it into the hat for the second round draw. Barrow have scored just 9 home goals in the BSP with only Tamworth (7 goals) scoring fewer than them, but Guiseley will still need to keep an eye on players like Richie Baker, Adam Boyes and creator Paul Rutherford who can be dangerous.
Guiseley are having a pretty good time so far this season in the Blue Square North, sitting in third place and just three points adrift of league leaders Brackley Town, and they travel for Tuesday’s cup replay on the back of demolishing Non-League Premier side Whitby Town 7-0 at the weekend in a third round qualifying FA Trophy tie.
The Lions have lost just once in their last twelve matches in all competitions, and this momentum will be invaluable to them as they embark on their mission of beating a side higher up in the non-league pyramid, and with players such as Nicky Boshell (8 goals), Gavin Rothery, Josh Wilson and James Walshaw (5 goals apiece), they are more than capable of creating problems for any team at this level.
Barrow’s inability to string together any kind of winning runs in recent months along with suffering back-to-back defeats following on from the 2-2 draw in the previous match against Guiseley, gives the visitors a chance tonight and I’ll back them with the handicap, so if it’s a draw we still get a winner after 90 mins.
Pick: Guiseley AH+0.5 @ 1.77 bet365
