Like the Bromley and Tranmere game on Saturday this match sees one side I have tipped for relegation play a team I have tipped for the title. Eastleigh looked good in the first half against Guiseley on Saturday when going 2 up. They weren't as good in the 2nd half though and allowed Guiseley to come back into the game. I think it might have just been a case of Eastleigh thinking the job was done and easing off in the heat. In someways the Guiseley comeback might be a good thing for Eastleigh as it was a reminder that you will get punished in this division if you switch off. It was no surprise to see that pretty much everything positive that Braintree did on Saturday against North Ferriby came through Simeon Akinola. It didn't lead to a goal though and I think the 0-0 draw against the side who I think are potentially the weakest in the division, goes someway to back up what I thought about them pre-season. If Braintree lose Akinola I think they will be in deep trouble and the key for any team playing them will be to keep him quiet. Eastleigh look a big price at William Hills' 19/10 as I make them favourites for this match
Chester v Dagenham & Redbridge
It can be dangerous to get too carried away with results on the opening day of the season, but here we have a team who lost 3-0 hosting a team who won 3-0. Ironically their two opponents also play each other on Tuesday night, but more on that shortly. From the highlights I saw and from the report I read Dagenham were very impressive on Saturday. Now Southport are likely to be in another relegation battle this season so I wouldn't want to get too carried away with Dagenham just yet, but it did hint that they could be promotion contenders. Chester meanwhile looked disjointed and poor when losing 3-0 to Gateshead and my feeling was they would be in the bottom 8 again looked a fair one. John Still is sure to make his Dagenham side hard to beat on the road and they clearly have the goals in the team to take advantage of the chances that will come their way and the 8/5 with Marathon looks too big.
Southport v Gateshead
As mentioned above these were the two sides who played Chester and Dagenham on Saturday. I did mention in my ante-post preview that I nearly tipped Gateshead up as they had looked like they had improved their squad from last season and they got off to a flying start on Saturday. Last season they lacked consistency, but hopefully they won't be like that this season as on paper they have a much stronger side than Southport. Marathon are biggest at 6/4 and that looks value as I would make them clear favourites to win.
York v Macclesfield
York were very disappointing on Saturday when held to a 1-1 draw with Maidstone on BT Sport. Granted in the first half it looked like they struggled on the 3G pitch a little, but even so they must consider themselves fortunate to have got a point as they were pretty poor. Macclesfield on the other hand were the complete opposite in beating Torquay 2-0. Now it seems Torquay didn't perform at all on Saturday and were very disappointing, but Macclesfield should take plenty of confidence from their performance. With York looking they might need a bit of time to gel it could be a good time to be playing them and Macclesfield look very over priced at 2.3/1 with Marathon. At that price I make them the best bet of the evening.
Hayes & Yeading v Hitchin
Fair to say it was a rather dramatic afternoon following the Hitchin game on Saturday. First of all we had the massive gamble which meant having been odds against when I put the preview up on Thursday night, they were no bigger than 2/5 before Friday lunchtime. When Cinderford took a 3 goal lead I thought the bookies were going to keep the money, but having seen the Cinderford side I knew that if Hitchin could get one they might be in with a chance. The comeback started in the 76th minute and apparently after that first goal you could see the Cinderford players start to look nervy. Hitchin got a penalty in injury time to win the game and duly scored it to land the money for us. They hit the woodwork five times during the game so I think it was a bit of a fluke that Cinderford took a 3 goal lead. That should give Hitchin plenty of confidence going into this game though. This is the first league game at Hayes' new ground and they will be keen to win, but they lost 2-1 to Froome on Saturday and I am not sure the bookies have priced this up right in making them such short favourites. The 21/10 with Skybet and BetVictor looks worth chancing.
