Football – England – League One
Saturday 8th December 2012 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Second from bottom club Scnthorpe United take on in-form Bournemouth at Glanford Park on Saturday afternoon as the hosts look to post just their second home win of the season after a lean spell of results.
Scnthorpe have reverted back to type following a brief respite from their winless streak when they beat Walsall and Coventry City away from home in rare back-to-back wins, but since then they’ve picked up just one point from their next three matches; a 2-2 home draw against Notts County and then defeats against Bury and Doncaster Rovers.
Up until those two recent wins, Scnthorpe United had suffered a run of seven matches without a win which included defeats against Portsmouth, Tranmere Rovers, Stevenage, Preston North End and MK Dons and as a result find themselves in a bit of a mess at the wrong end of League One with a home record of 1-3-6 10/21.
Only Carlisle United (25 goals conceded) have a worse defensive record at home in League One and is an indication to where things are going wrong for The Iron; however, they do have a couple of dangerous players in striker Leon Clarke (11 goals), Karl Hawley (3 goals, 3 assists) and Mark Duffy (1 goal, 6 assists).
Bournemouth continue their upwards trend in League One under the guidance of manager Eddie Howe, and the south coast side are now unbeaten in their last nine League One matches and they now sit in 10th spot but still under the radar for the time being.
Bournemouth’s away record stands at 3-3-4 16/21 but they are unbeaten in their last four on the road with two draws (3-3 at Notts County and 2-2 at Bury) along with two wins (4-2 at Carlisle United and a good 1-0 win at Doncaster Rovers). Striker Lewis Grabban (7 goals, 2 assists) is the Cherries’ leading scorer but Bournemouth have a few more attacking players such as midfielder Marc Pugh (4 goals, 4 assists), Charlie Daniels (4 goals, 3 assists) and Lee Barnard and Matthew Tubbs (4 goals apiece) while Simon Francis has chipped in with 4 assists.
Bournemouth have failed to score just twice away from home and given their firepower at Eddie Howe’s disposal I expect them to score at least once here today; I’ll back Bournemouth to win but with the handicap as they are away from home. Could be a 2-1 win for The Cherries.
Pick: Bournemouth AH-0.25 @ 1.78 Canbet
