HALIFAX v BRAINTREE – Pick: Both teams to score – 02 April 2014

Shaymen and Iron to stake play-off claims

National League Tips

Football – England – Skrill Premier

Thursday 3rd April 2014 – Kickoff:  1945hrs

Halifax Town will be looking to make it six wins on the trot when they host fellow play-off hopefuls Braintree Town at The Shay on Thursday night as both teams go in search of the points to break into the play-off pack.

Halifax go into tonight’s match on the back of five straight wins which includes impressive results over 5th placed Alfreton Town 2-0 and another 2-0 home win over runaway Skrill Premier league leaders Luton Town as well as away wins at Hyde United and Welling United which would have also been welcome wins on the road for a side who haven’t previously travelled well.

Back on home turf though, Halifax will be confident of at least finding the net here tonight with an overall record of  15-4-1  52/17 going into tonight’s encounter, having now gone eight matches unbeaten. Given this record, it’s perhaps not surprising that The Shaymen have scored in each and every home match so far this season, with leading goalscorer Gregory (27 goals) on quite a few clubs’ radars I daresay.

Visitors Braintree Town chalked up an impressive 4-0 win away at Southport on Tuesday night which has lifted Alan Devonshire’s men up into the play-off reckoning and they find themselves just one league place and one point adrift of Alfreton Town now with two games in hand over the Derbyshire outfit.

I was waiting to see how they fared at Southport before previewing this fixture given Southport’s record over top half opposition at their Haig Avenue, but Braintree blew them out of the water which will give them confidence for the trip to Halifax on Thursday night. The Iron also have a pretty good record on the road overall which stands at  8-5-7  26/18 and they’ve registered useful results recently at Kidderminster 2-2, Forest Green Rovers 2-0 and Welling United by the same scoreline as well as the Southport result.

Braintree’s leading goalscorer Holman (13 goals, 2 assists) scored a brace on Tuesday night and he has useful support in the shape of Marks (6 goals) and Davis (5 goals, 4 assists).

To sum up, both teams are in good shape right now and are both looking to break into the play-off pack. Given the nature of the Conference, I expect both teams to go in search of goals tonight and I fancy both of them to hit the back of the net tonight in what could be a 1-1 draw by the end of the night.

Pick:  Both teams to score – yes @ 1.62 bet365