CHESTERFIELD v SOUTHEND – Pick: 1 AH0 – 26 January 2013

Spireites look to topple Shrimpers at the Proact

League One/Two Tips

Football – England – League Two

Saturday 26th January 2013 – Kickoff:  1500hrs

Chesterfield may be hosting a Southend United outfit who are currently on the fringe of the play-offs but that won’t phase the Derbyshire club as they look to extend their six match unbeaten home run at the Proact Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Chesterfield have clicked into gear in recent weeks on home turf with impressive wins over Oxford United 2-1, fifth placed Cheltenham Town 4-1, York City 3-0 and third placed Northampton Town 3-0 along with a 1-1 draw with seventh placed Burton Albion. It’s no surprise then that they are ‘top of the pops’ when it comes to home form versus top half teams in League Two with a record of  3-2-1  12/6 and another three points today could see them level on points with Burton.

Chesterfield’s home record overall stands at  6-5-3  26/16 and they are more than capable of scoring goals in front of their home faithful having failed to net just once so far this campaign at the Proact. Their mini slump during October where they lost three on the trot at home to Dagenham, Fleetwood and Barnet seems to be behind them now as they look to claim another scalp.

Despite sitting in eighth place just two points behind Burton Albion, Southend United will now be nervously looking over their shoulders at the teams coming up behind them such as Fleetwood Town, Bradford City and today’s opponents Chesterfield as they’ve lost valuable ground in recent matches.

The Shrimpers have lost their last three league matches on the trot to Burton Albion 0-2 away, Gillingham 0-1 at home and a 0-3 defeat at Exeter City and although they beat Chesterfield 3-0 at home in December, that was the pre-Christmas Southend United who were on a nine match unbeaten run at the time. Since then, they’ve won once from their next four matches which was a 3-0 away win at Dagenham.

Southend’s away record stands at  6-3-5  24/17 but perhaps more importantly is their form away from home versus top half opposition; a less than impressive record of  2-2-4  9/12 represents the ‘true’ status and they won’t find it easy to get the points at Chesterfield today.

Chesterfield are on a good run at home at the moment and along with their form against the better teams in the division, they fear no-one at this stage. I’ll take Chesterfield with the round ball for insurance but don’t be surprised if they take this perhaps 2-1.

Pick;  Chesterfield AH0 (Draw No Bet) @ 1.79 Pinnacle