Football – England – Conference Premier
Sunday 4th January 2015 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Chester suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat away at the hands of Altrincham on New Years Day and so they’ll no doubt be keen to bounce back with a win against Braintree Town who have struggled on the road overall this season.
Chester have won just twice in their last six matches with wins over AFC Telford 2-0 at home and a very unexpected 2-0 win away at Halifax Town at The Shay no less where not many teams manage to get a point let alone all three!
Chester’s overall home record stands at 7-2-4 14/17 with only Lincoln City (8 wins) managing more home wins than them in the bottom half of the Conference Premier. Prior to the Altrincham defeat on Boxing Day, Chester had been in great form on home turf as they’d gone unbeaten in eight matches.
Forwards Hobson and McConville look the most likely to score for the hosts.
Visitors Braintree Town have recently turned around their form having won three of their last four with wins over Torquay United and doing the ‘double’ over Dartford in the recent corresponding home and away fixtures over the festive period.
But just two away wins from their last eight trips tells its own story as alan Devonshire’s men have tended to struggle in their away fixtures this term whilst they hold an overall road record of 4-0-9 14/18. That said, The Iron’s four away matches this season have all come at bottom half opposition where they’ve scored a total of 11 goals and conceded 5 in return.
Braintree’s best chances of scoring looks to be coming from Strutton, Sparkes, Cox and Akinola who have all notched in recent weeks.
Both teams aren’t exactly in prolific form but both should concede here today in what might be a 2-1 home win as a possible scoreline.
Pick: Both teams to score – Yes @ 1.80 bet365
