Football – England – League Two
Friday 16th May 2014 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Fleetwood Town entertain fellow play-off rivals York City in the second leg of their semi final in League Two on Friday night at Highbury Stadium with the hosts holding a slender but valuable 1-0 lead.
Fleetwood defied popular consensus by overturning York City at Bootham Crescent on Monday night which ended York’s impressive nine match unbeaten run at home and in turn gave them a valuable lead to protect at Highbury Stadium tonight. Fleetwood’s home form going into the play-offs was very solid in the final weeks of the season as they’d lost just once in their last nine matches which was a freak 0-4 loss to Plymouth Argyle back in February.
Fleetwood finished the season with an overall home record of 11-6-6 41/30 and they had conceded the second most number of goals at home, behind only to Mansfield Town (32) in the top half of League Two. It’s also interesting to note that they suffered defeat to tonight’s opponents York City 1-2 in their last meeting with The Minstermen at Highbury.
Onto the visitors York City then, and perhaps a little unexpectedly, they trail Fleetwood Town by a 0-1 deficit despite their good home form going into the first leg. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, York registered a 2-1 away win at Fleetwood Town back in February and they won’t be over-awed this time around either as they seek an equalising goal which could then open the game up.
York’s away record had also improved out of sight towards the last weeks of the regular season as they’d strung together an eight match unbeaten run on their travels which included six wins (Fleetwood 2-1 and Oxford United 1-0 along with points at promoted Rochdale and Scunthorpe United were the highlights), as they finished with an away record of 8-8-7 29/26.
Fleetwood, despite holding a 1-0 lead, know only one way to play and that is to go forward at any opportunity and I am confident they’ll adopt this policy rather than the riskier option of trying to protect their lead. York will need to go on the front foot from the off to reduce the deficit, and they know they are capable of beating the Cod Army as they’ve proved earlier in the season. Fleetwood’s defence has also been susceptible against the better sides, so this leads me to back both teams to score tonight in what could end up a 1-1 draw perhaps.
Pick: Both teams to score – Yes @ 2.20 Coral
