Football – England – Blue Square Premier
Saturday 17th November 2012 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
This fixture features two former football league clubs who are desperate to return to League Two football, and both teams have recently put together some solid performances.
Hosts Lincoln City currently sit in 13th place but despite their current league position they’re on a five match unbeaten run which includes wins over third placed Wrexham 4-2 away, a 3-0 home win over Braintree Town and a 2-1 win at Barrow along with draws against Mansfield Town and Stockport County.
The Imps’ home record stands at 4-2-3 17/14 and they’ve lost just once in their last five at home which was to fifth placed Luton Town who still can’t seem to stamp their authority on this division despite starting as red-hot favourites for automatic promotion this season.
Jamie Taylor (8 goals, 3 assists) is their leading scorer but with Nicky Nicolau (4 goals, 2 assists), Colin Larkin (3 goals) and Vadaine Oliver (3 goals) who incidentally grabbed a brace at Walsall in their midweek Cup replay win in extra-time, they have plenty of attacking personnel capable of creating problems.
Visitors Hereford United are also on a decent run of form right now having gone seven matches without losing in all competitions which includes a 3-1 first round win against League One side Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup. Other recent wins have been over promotion candidates Luton Town and Wrexham which underlines their capacity to cause any team in this division serious problems.
Hereford’s away record stands at 2-4-3 12/17 but they’re unbeaten in their last four away matches with three draws (at Mansfield Town, Nuneaton Town and Southport) along with a win at aforementioned Wrexham.
The Bulls’ dangermen include Ryan Bowman (5 goals), with creativity being supplied by Samuel Clucas and Morley Watkins (3 goals and 5 assists each), they stand a chance at Lincoln of getting something out of the match.
In summary, despite Hereford’s recent surge in form, I’ll back the hosts this afternoon with home advantage and the visitors’ propensity to draw a lot of their matches. I’ll therefore back Lincoln with the draw no bet option in this one, so if it’s a draw we get our stake refunded.
This could be either a 1-1 draw or 2-1 to Lincoln City.
Pick: Lincoln City AH0 (Draw No Bet) @ 1.74 Pinnacle seems a fair price
