Mid-week Non League 8th-10th August

[Darran]

Got a few teams on my shortlist and will stick a preview up at some point this evening hopefully. Looks like we got one chance to oppose Cinderford as they host Dorchester on Tuesday and the away side are around 4/6. Given Dorchester shouldn't be as good as Hitchin that isn't a price that looks worth taking at this stage of the season. By the way Hitchin hit the woodwork 5 times during the match on Saturday so I do think Cinderford's 3 goal lead my have been more of a fluke than them being better than I thought they would be.

[sap]

Hi,

Where can I see the past highlights of all the conference matches?Any website or tv channel?

[Darran]

BT Sport have a weekly 30 minute highlights show every Sunday night for the National League. I think it is also available for free on You Tube.

[French]

11 hours ago, sap said:

Hi,

Where can I see the past highlights of all the conference matches?Any website or tv channel?

I found it quicly after addpea's written about BT Sport. Here it is: link to YouTube.

Edited August 8, 2016 by French

[Darran]

Annoyingly there has been a big gamble in the past hour and a half on St Albans to beat Wealdstone tonight. I was going to tip the away side up, but they have become too short now in my view. Its a shame as they looked a nice price, but they are only 13/10 now and shorter with most bookies, if the gamble continues they might end up being odds on.

[Darran]

Braintree v Eastleigh

 

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.

[Darran]

Here is a link to the highlights of the Hitchin game from Saturday. If they hadn't of won I would have felt very hard done by as they could probably have got into double figures on another day. https://vimeo.com/177938653

[sap]

Hi all

Thanks for the links and previews.Always welcomed.

Coming to tuesday night,I fancy maidstone and kidderminster.

Hope we can come out with winners.

[Bukic]

Hey @addpea, what do you think of Lincoln home win with North Ferriby? I read somewhere that South African director Clive Nates invest in this team and they bought some players which are good for this league, while on the other side North Ferriby is team with small budget and lost some important players to Halifax. Can this be easy win for Lincoln? Thanks.

[Darran]

On paper it potentially could be and I do think north ferriby will finish bottom this season. The bookies have priced it right though and I would always be slightly wary of taking long odds on this early in the season but I would be surprised of Lincoln didn't win. 

[StevieDay1983]

What are your thoughts on Wrexham this season after their opening day 0-0 draw with Dover, addpea? Not a bad point for the Dragons and they could have won it. I think Dover could be knocking on the play-offs door this season.

[Darran]

From what I read Dover were the better side and more likely to win the game. Wrexham look short enough tonight although they should be favs. I'm not sure how Dover are going to do this season yet as they lost some key players, but to be fair they have kept some as well. I suspect a lot will be based on if they keep clear of injuries and suspensions as they have a small squad.

[French]

A propos of Dover. I just saw in Twitter they just signed a very good striker Ross Lafayette. He spent last season in Eastleigh but wasn't involved in the games (one appearence only). I remember him in Welling United when he was the key man in their promotional year 13/14. If he recovers from the pause, this could be a very strong support for Athletic.

[Darran]

He went on loan to Aldershot for 3 months last season. A fair signing for Dover, but the fact Eastleigh have got rid suggests he isn't good enough to be in their squad.

[French]

2 hours ago, addpea said:

He went on loan to Aldershot for 3 months last season. A fair signing for Dover, but the fact Eastleigh have got rid suggests he isn't good enough to be in their squad.

Yes, that's true, but I would remark that Eastleigh has a really impressive attacking line now with Constable and Bird on the top. Two quite experience hitmen, isn't it? I think that for Dover it's a good purchase. Who knows, probably old man Ross will revive there  

[Darran]

Bit disappointing tonight with only Gateshead winning and some strange results. Go again on Saturday though. 

[Neubs]

Yes very strange results today, but Lincoln with impressiv win today. Take a look here on them in next Games. Also think Gateshead maybe can suprised in next game at Forest Green.

[Darran]

Wouldn't pay too much attention at Lincoln as north ferriby are poor and ended up with 10 men fairly early on. Also Kidderminster who won 6-1 on Saturday went and lost tonight. Be interesting to see how Lincoln cope with a stronger team. 

[4p5p.]

Hi Guys   newbie here although i remember addpea from a non league forum a few seasons back with the 'famous' PD. He got of to a great start it seems on Saturday so am here to make some do$h if possible by sharing thoughts with like minded people. Good luck all , lets hope its a great season ahead.

My first contribution is ...

(Weds) Conference North Division : Bradford Park Avenue to beat Curzon Ashton @ 30/29 MarathonBet

BPA got of to a decent start to the new season by drawing at Gainsborough Trinity but really they should of won the game as they missed an injury time penalty which would of won them the game. BPA signed the close season a cracking player from North Ferriby in Thomas Davie who runs all day and is a very canny player who is versatile either out wide or coming late in the box from midfield (like Frank Lampard i suppose). Curzon got smashed for six against Kiddersminster on Saturday (Kiddy lost last night). Funny thing is i spotted a couple of days back BPA were odds on 8/11ish but drifted to odds against 11/10ish but are now back odds on again apart from with Marathon.

Good Luck !

[GB80]

23 hours ago, addpea said:

Wouldn't pay too much attention at Lincoln as north ferriby are poor and ended up with 10 men fairly early on. Also Kidderminster who won 6-1 on Saturday went and lost tonight. Be interesting to see how Lincoln cope with a stronger team. 

Lincoln were excellent again last night. Yes North Ferriby aren't a great side at all, but Lincoln got off to an early start, and the red card was early but the incident was the penalty for the fourth goal, so the game was already over by that point.

Two points regarding Lincoln. The first is that in all but one of their pre-season friendlies, they scored in the first 10 minutes. And again last night got 2 goals in the first 10 minutes. It's something that the Cowley brothers have mentioned they have drilled into the players to get off to fast starts, and is something that people may want to look at betting on. The second is that something that is consistent with Danny Cowleys sides in management both with Concord and Braintree, is that his teams generally start slow in the early part of the season and then come good towards the end. With Lincoln's relatively easy opening fixtures, and the fact that he is now working with his players every day and not just two evenings a week, Lincoln may well get stronger as the season goes on and if they are still up there early on in the season, history says they will definitely be up there at the end of the season.

I'm not saying I think people should be lumping on them to win the league, and I'm obviously slightly biased. But there is a real positive feeling at Lincoln at the moment. The Cowley's are different to any manager that we've ever had, the signings that have come in are better than the usual ones that we've had over the past few years. We have a little bit more money (not that anyone has officially said the budget is higher than last season) due to a South African investor who came on board earlier in the year. There just seems to be a feeling that there might be something special about to happen.

[Darran]

I must admit I wasn't as clear as I should have been. If you read my ante-post preview and my preview of last Saturday's game then you will know I think Lincoln will go well this season. They have strengthened nicely and getting the Cowley brothers in was a shrewd move. I am sort of wishing I had backed them at a double figure price, but at the same time they have played the two sides who have the smallest budgets in the league so I wouldn't want to get too carried away with the first two results. I'm not sure we will learn a great deal on Saturday either although Sutton obviously caused FGR problems on Sunday.

[4p5p.]

Shame Bradford Park Avenue could not win after being 2-0 up after just 14 minutes. Oh well but it sounded a thriller as ended 4-4 . Thats the way it goes sometimes.