Football – England – League Two
Tuesday 8th January 2013 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
19th placed Morecambe play host to mid-table Dagenham & Redbridge at their Globe Arena ground on Tuesday night and with no other League Two fixtures tonight, a win for the visitors would lift them to within three points of 7th placed Fleetwood Town who currently occupy the last remaining play-off spot.
In recent weeks, Morecambe have become something of the ‘draw specialists’ having drawn four of their last six matches; 2-2 at Wycombe Wanderers, 1-1 at home to Oxford United, 1-1 at Chesterfield and on New Years Day they drew 0-0 at home with Bradford City. Their win was at home against struggling AFC Wimbledon, and their defeat during this last six match period was a 0-1 defeat at Fleetwood Town.
At home, The Shrimps have put together an eight match unbeaten run which again includes four stalemates, but also wins over Chesterfield, Southend United, Barnet and AFC Wimbledon. Their home record stands at 4-5-3 16/15 but goals have been hard to come by at home.
Players to look out for are Kevin Ellison (8 goals, 3 assists), Jack Redshaw (7 goals), former Fleetwood & York City striker Richard Brodie (5 goals, 2 assists) while creativity has been supplied largely by Gary McDonald (4 assists).
Visitors Dagenham & Redbridge scored a great away win at the weekend when they beat Accrington Stanley 2-0 to pull themselves clear of any unnecessary relegation worries for the time being. Indeed, they now have sight of the top seven clubs and another win tonight would take them one step closer to the play-off pack.
The Daggers’ win at Accrington ended a run of three defeats which were inflicted by Southend United 0-3, Port Vale 2-3 and away at Northampton Town 1-3, but take into consideration that two of these results were against teams already in the top seven, and Northampton Town are just one point behind the play-off teams and are flying at the moment.
Dagenham’s away form has been a little up and down it must be said with an overall record of 4-3-6 20/24, but one thing in their favour is that they’ve failed to score on the road just once so far this term which was their first away fixture of the season where they lost 0-2 at now fourth placed Cheltenham Town.
Dagenham’s firepower includes Sam Williams (8 goals), Luke Howells (7 goals), Spillane and Wilkinson (4 goals apiece) with creativity from Saunders (3 goals, 6 assists) and Ogogo (4 assists) giving experienced manager John Still plenty of attacking options.
Morecambe have been solid at home in the last few weeks, but I fancy Dagenham here to gain at least a point with their attacking flair at their disposal, and with Morecambe having a tendency to draw a lot of their matches at the moment, the quarter ball with Dagenham looks the best option tonight – could be a 1-1 draw.
Pick: Dagenham & Redbridge AH+0.25 @ 1.81 Bet Victor
