Notts County V Bournemouth
Tuesday, 14th December – 19:45 (GMT)
Continuing the trend of same league clashes, Notts County and Bournemouth will do battle for a place in the Third Round of the FA Cup at County’s Meadow Lane, where the reward for the winner will be an exciting and possibly lucrative trip to Wearside to tackle the Premiership’s high-flyer’s Sunderland inside the spectacular Stadium of Light.
After gaining promotion into League One courtesy of clinching the 2009/2010 League Two title, Notts County took all that momentum into this season and began in encouraging fashion. By the end of September they already had four wins under their belts and were comfortably above the relegation zone, with survival very much the target for the club which once, just a couple of years ago in fact, held aspirations of a return to the Premier League. However, results soon started to take a turn for the worse and had it not been for their recent back-to-back successes over Swindon Town and MK Dons, the Magpies would find themselves languishing inside the drop zone ahead of a crucial Third Round FA Cup tie.
With the weather wreaking havoc with lower league fixtures, Notts County were delighted to hear that their weekend fixture with MK Dons would go ahead after spending the last fortnight training mainly inside and without a competitive match in sight. So the match itself came at the perfect time, ahead of Tuesday’s crunch clash with fellow promoter’s Bournemouth, as not only did they boost their fitness levels they also enhanced their position in the table with another, their second in succession, league victory. Manager Paul Ince is now hoping his side’s recent bout of league wins will be the catalyst for a strong run of form over a busy December month of league and cup fixtures.
Like County, Bournemouth, who finished second behind Notts County in last season’s League Two, made a stunning start to life in League One and were quickly showing us all that they weren’t willing to saviour their fifteen minutes of fame upped in grade. So much so that fans are even discussing the possibility of promotion, and so they should. Just five defeats in their first nineteen league matches, as well as eight impressive victories, is the form of a play-off contenders at the minimum.
However, and this is the biggest, fanciest but you’ll probably ever see, Bournemouth’s Dean Court has provided the foundations for their successful first half of the season, with results elsewhere proving less impressive and actually leading to a great deal of concern. Of their eight victories in the league this term, only one has come away from home and that was against relegation favourites Tranmere. But there have been promising signs that The Cherries are developing as travellers, with manager Eddie Hower having seen his players work tremendously hard on improving their away fortunes and the results have been promising. Their 2-2 draw away to Leyton Orient last month was their fourth successive away draw in the league and although some would see that as a negative rather than a positive, considering the Cherries are renowned for their away flaws and the fact two of the four stalemates were against two of the league’s leading players in Sheffield Wednesday and runaway leaders Brighton, we reckon it’s a run not to be sniffed at.
As far as this competition goes, Notts County made light work of their First Round assignment, despatching of Conference National side Gateshead with a 2-0 win at Meadow Lane, meanwhile Bournemouth were involved in a 5-3 thriller, which they won of course, as a Josh McQuoid hat-trick ensured Tranmere weren’t going to upset the odds.
Betting Assessment: As soon as this draw was made, goals was the first thing which sprung to my mind. The pair have already played out a thriller of a contest in League One this season, with Bournemouth the hosts then in an enthralling 3-3 draw at Dean Court. Both clashes last season, down in League Twon, produced at least three goals, and with the pair proving to be just as prolific in front of goal this season when upped in grade, with Bournemouth right up there with the highest scorers in the league, we reckon Tuesday’s contest at Meadow Lane could turn out to be another cracking encounter between two sides who just love to score goals.
Matt’s Selections:
Over 2.5 Goals – 1.91 WilliamHill
Over 3.5 Goals – 3.25 Bet365
Both Teams to Score – 1.80 StanJames
Match Odds
Notts County – 2.38 Bet365
Draw – 3.50 SkyBet
Bournemouth – 3.00 Coral
