Tip 1: Swindon vs Colchester – Over 2.5 Goals – 1 point

4/6 widely available at the time of publishing. 

In December, Ian Holloway had to be restrained from Swindon supporters in the away end at Valley Parade after another dismal display plunged them into relegation uncertainty.

Fast forward ten months and The Robins are in second place, poised for a promotion push. Despite Holloway known for his pragmatism over the years, Swindon have been one of the league entertainers, scoring 24 goals and conceding 19 for an average of 3.3 goals. Of their 13 games, a league high 10 have seen at least three goals.

Colchester are really starting to click after a slow start to the season, winning their last three games on the bounce. The Cowley brothers are shrewd operators, and their side were seen as dark horses for playoffs.

On the goal front, their games are averaging three goals. However, only 5/13 have seen over 2.5 goals – owing to a slow start to the season. Now that they have settled on a front four of Harry Anderson, Jack Payne, Kyreece Lisbie and Michah Mbick, The U’s have goals in abundance, scoring 15 goals in their last five in all competitions – all five seeing at least three goals.

Bromley vs MK Dons - MK Dons Draw No Bet  – 1 point

10/11 best price with William Hill & Betway. 17/20 widely available.

Pre-season title favourites MK Dons took 11 points from their first five games, before just one from the next four, leaving them behind the front runners early in the season. Since the dismal home loss to Accrington, The Dons have won four games on the bounce, scoring 12 goals in the process – including putting seven goals combined past strong sides in Gillingham and Bristol Rovers.

Paul Warne tends to take time to get settled at a club before his sides begin to motor – we saw it at Derby and Rotherham and are now seeing it at MK Dons. Away from home, no team has conceded fewer (4) and with players returning from injury, getting the inform visitors on side looks to be the bet.

ALL THREE OF MATTHEW O'REGAN's DRAW NO BET TIPS HAVE WON THIS SEASON (+3.75pts).

 

Crewe vs Grimsby – Grimsby Draw No Bet – 1 point

17/20 best price with William Hill and 888Sport. 5/6 widely available.

Things look to have got a bit stagnant at Crewe in recent years. Lee Bell is in his fourth season at the club and with no real progress made, his position is under threat. The Railwaymen finished 13th in his first campaign, before a playoff final defeat to Crawley the following season. This was followed up by another 13th placed finish, with Crewe now sat in 11th.

The football has been slow and inefficient, and fans are at the end of their tether as Crewe have lost four of their last six. Inconsistency continues to blight them, so the visit of Grimsby is untimely.

The Mariners are on an upward trajectory after just missing out on the playoffs last year and are aiming for automatic promotion. Former Alex manager David Artell has made his Grimsby side one of the most entertaining in the league, as well as being hard to beat.

They are also strong travellers – only three teams have taken more away points than Grimsby who have lost just once on the road.

Northampton vs Luton- Northampton Double Chance - 1 point

5/6 best price and widely available.

I must admit, it looks like I have been massively wrong on Northampton having pinned them for a bottom place finish. Under the steady guise of Kevin Nolan, The Cobblers are 11th in the table, boasting the fourth best defensive record in the league. Only Stevenage (1) have conceded fewer home goals than Northampton’s three, keeping four clean sheets.

Luton were the pre-season favourites to bounce back to the Championship after back-to-back relegations but it has not been plain sailing for The Hatters. Matt Bloomfield was dismissed as manager with his side in the bottom half after a 2-0 loss at local rivals Stevenage. Luton now sit 14th, already eight points off the playoffs and just three points clear of the relegation zone.

The hierarchy took a massive gamble in appointing Jack Wilshere as the new manager, giving the 33-year-old his first tase of senior management. Things didn’t go to plan in the opener, with his side succumbing to a shock 0-2 loss to Mansfield.

While long term, it could prove to be a shrewd appointment, hiring a manager with no experience and without a pre-season is lunacy to me. As a result, Luton will take time to click so value will remain in backing their underpriced opponents.

Millwall vs Leicester- Aaron Ramsey To Score – 0.5 pts

5/1 best price with bet365. 4/1 widely available.

Aaron Ramsey (no not that one) had two years at Burnley, hardly playing and failing to score. However, in his previous Championship season with regular(ish) football, the 22-year-old scored eight goals in 21 minutes (0.42 per 90).

This campaign, he has been loaned to Leicester and has started strongly- despite being sent off after just 24 minutes on his debut. His first start came in the 1-1 draw with Portsmouth, tapping home from close range to put his side into the lead. He was then inexplicably dropped against Hull, but that didn’t stop him scoring off the bench in the second half to halve the deficit. Ramsey has now scored 3 goals in 263 minutes of football (including in the cup for Burnley) so looks a monster price to make it four on Saturday.