Football – England – Conference National
Tuesday 12th August 2014 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Tuesday night brings us more action from the Conference National and my next pick focuses on hosts Forest Green Rovers taking on Chester FC at the New Lawn ground.
Forest Green secured a good first win of the new season on Saturday with a 1-0 win away at Southport which was a pretty good result for them. It’s always good to get off to a good start straight away and Forest green will no doubt be confident they can continue their good start over visitors Chester who are again expected to struggle in the non-league top flight this term.
Striker Lee Hughes provided the goal that gave Rovers the points on Saturday and he will be a vital attacking force for manager Aidy Pennock for this campaign along with much-travelled journeyman Jon ‘The Beast’ Parkin up front. James Norwood is also a vital cog in Forest Green’s attacking make-up so look out for contributions from him as he finished last season with a total of 19 goals.
Visitors Chester are expected to be facing another long hard and tough campaign and this was certainly the early evidence on show on Saturday at their Exacta Stadium when they were thrashed 0-5 to Barnet in the season-opener.
They now face another tough assignment in Gloucestershire tonight as they face Forest Green Rovers, and previous encounters last season suggest they could be in for further disappointment as they lost both home and away meetings with Forest Green 1-2 at home and a 0-3 defeat at the New Lawn.
Chester’s away record last season finished on 7-3-13 23/40 which, compared with Forest Green’s home record of 13-6-4 47/22, suggests they could struggle again here tonight.
Forest Green secured a good win at Southport and with home advantage tonight, they should be too strong for a Chester outfit who are heavily tipped to struggle again in the top flight this season. I’ll back Rovers to win this perhaps 2-0.
Pick: Forest Green Rovers straight win @ 1.67 William Hill
