Leg 1: Charlton Athletic to BEAT Barnet (1.80 Ladbrokes)
Leg 2: Bury to BEAT Exeter City (2.50 totesport)
Leg 3: Forest Green to BEAT Northampton Town (3.75 WilliamHill)
Leg 4: Rushden & Diamonds to BEAT Yeovil Town (2.88 StanJames)
Odds: 40/1
Bookmaker: WilliamHill
As weird as it sounds, although I’m not the only one who has this problem, but there are a number of teams who simply slip off my radar, just go completely unnoticed, and it’s not until I have a quick gander through the league tables, results and statistics that I realise a side is doing well without my knowledge. IN this instance, Charlton Athletic are that side. A few rocky patches aside, Charlton are enjoying a decent League One campaign which has shown plenty of promise of a possible promotion back to the Championship, where they came within a semi-final defeat in the play-off’s last season of making an immediate return.
Phil Parkinson is still the manager and although he has had to let several of last season’s stars leave for pastures new, Nicky Bailey and Jonjo Shelvey among them, he still has a decent group of players under his wing, strong enough to ensure they don’t slip up away to bottom of the football league Barnet, who are 24th in the League Two table and are quickly becoming everyone’s favourites for the drop, not that they were expected to be a million miles away beforehand. The Bees’ form is littered with losses, 9 in 15 overall, while they’ve lost four of their last five. Even at home their form has been patchy and nowhere the standard needed to save their bacon. Victories over Macclesfield, Hereford and Cheltenham, all at home, are all Barnet have to shout about over sides who were tipped to go down at the start of the season. They conceded a tonne of goals and will struggle to match-up with League One’s high-flying Addicks.
I’m sensing a shock in this one as League One Exeter City, who’s main objective this season is merely to avoid relegation back down to League Two where their FA Cup first round opponents Bury reside. However, while on paper the Gremlins may look appealing at the odds, it is Bury who catch the eye, the side full of confidence after an impressive opening to the season which sees them kick-off their FA Cup adventure third in League Two.
With Exeter arriving at Gigg Lane on the back of three successive league defeats, and just three points above the relegation zone, Bury will sniff out an opening here, despite losing 1-0 at home to Bradford in midweek. Even though their record away from home is far better than at Gigg Lane – Home: W3 D3 L2 Away: W5 D1 L1 – Bury remain difficult to beat at home and with a capacity crowd behind them, and in the knowledge that they don’t tend to concede too many goals on home soil – just three in their last five home matches including two clean sheets – we reckon Bury are a cracking bet at the odds.
The beauty of the FA Cup is it allows the smaller sides to dare to dream, while it also gives those struggling in their domestic leagues the opportunity to take a break from their strife’s and to allow the magic of the FA Cup to sweep them off their feet. One team in particular eager to embrace the romance of the FA Cup is second from bottom in the Conference Forest Green, who are aiming to reach the third round of the competition, where the big guns enter the fray, for the third year in a row but will first need to see off this year’s Carling Cup giant-killers Northampton Town in the first round.
While Forest Green may look a terrible bet on paper, because of their dismal positioning in the Conference National table, Northampton’s current situation in League Two isn’t exactly bright either. In fact, the Cobblers find themselves languishing down in 19th and have only their brief but exciting run in the Carling Cup in hide under in a campaign which should have been about a strong promotion but has instead focused around getting away from the relegation zone. However, their form has hit an upward curve lately having won their last two league fixtures, but their form on the road this season has been drastic – W1 D2 L5 – and in spite of their most recent success occurring on the road, it was only a 2-0 victory over struggling Lincoln City, who have only recently instilled a new manager. Combine Northampton’s terrible away form with Forest Green’s biggest crowd attendance of the season this Saturday and you have the raw materials for one of the rounds biggest upsets.
High-flying Conference outfit meets League One relegation candidates in yet another FA Cup first round fixture with the potential to spring a surprise. Rushden & Diamonds are the hosts and will look to take full advantage of their recent rich vein in form which has seen them race up the Conference table following five successive wins. Yeovil Town meanwhile will arrive at Nene Park on the back of a win-less league run of matches which has seen them lose three of their last four, two of which were away outings.
It would be wrong of us not to mention that Yeovil’s recent away outings have been at difficult venues – MK Dons and Brighton – but overall their away record this season in League Two is very poor having lost five of their opening eight away encounters. This drought of theirs won’t have done their confidence levels any good and in the FA Cup, low morale so often contributes to many a big teams downfall, and Yeovil, because of their League One status, are a big team in the early rounds. They were despatched by Conference opposition in last year’s competition as well, losing at Oxford, and haven’t progressed further than the first round in four previous attempts. Whereas Rushden lost out to Brighton last season in the second round despite a valiant effort at the Withdean, home to Brighton Hove & Albion. When the Diamonds do manage to make the competition proper, they tend to make the second round before bowing out. The hosts are a cracking punt at the odds to dump a team who have never quite taken the FA Cup to their hearts.
