Football – England – Conference Premier
Saturday 20th September 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Today’s venue, the Silverlake Stadium in Eastleigh, has seen a few goals being banged in since the hosts were promoted from the Conference South and I reckon we could see a few more here this afternoon when Eastleigh take on Braintree Town.
Eastleigh have been locked into ‘draw mode’ in recent weeks but that’s not to say that the south coast side have been involved in 0-0 stalemates – not a bit! Score-draws against Dartford 2-2, Altrincham 3-3 and Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw with Forest Green Rovers have been great entertainment but on a team level, Eastleigh are now unbeaten in their last four matches.
Prior to the three draws, Eastleigh registered their last win with a 2-1 victory over Southport at the Silverlake, and their home record so far stands at 3-2-0 10/6. Their attacking personnel include the likes of forwards Midson, Constable and Fleetwood, while midfielder Jai Reason has also chipped in with 3 goals.
Braintree Town head into today’s clash also in good form as they’ve won five of their last six matches with the only aberration being a 1-2 defeat away at lowly Welling United. Aside from that though, The Iron have registered wins over Nuneaton Town, Alfreton Town, Bristol Rovers, Kidderminster and Aldershot Town while their overall away form stands at 2-0-3 8/7.
Braintree have won at Alfreton and Aldershot and despite suffering defeats at Macclesfield Town, Lincoln City and Welling United, three of these five matches have ended over 2.5 goals with Braintree failing to score just once.
Manager Alan Devonshire can call upon forward Cox who hit a brace at Aldershot Town in midweek along with goalscoring midfielder Sparkes who has hit 3 goals so far.
Both teams go into today’s fixture in good form whilst scoring goals into the bargain, so I’ll back the overs in this one – Eastleigh might nick it perhaps 2-1 as a possible scoreline.
Pick: Over 2.5 goals @ 1.88 Pinnacle
