Bath to pull the plug on Basingstoke and Barrow with nowhere to Hyde

Non-league / Gary Boswell / 19 October 2007 / Leave a Comment

Boswell's Betfair Blog - a bi-weekly round up of the best plays in the world of non-league football

Sometimes it's a case of seeking value amongst the outsiders and sometimes it's a case of identifying the rock solid bankers.

The latter looks the form this weekend with a clutch of good quality home teams on which punters can reasonably rely.

Steve Waywell's Hyde United turned the Blue Square North on its head a week ago with their win at Rockingham Road to end Kettering's awesome unbeaten start to the season. I'm a big Steve Waywell fan from his days at Leigh RMI where he constructed a robust outfit that competed at the top end of the Conference Premier.

He's done a similar job at the Tameside Stadium for the Tigers of Hyde who have ace striker Gareth Seddon - last season's Conference North Golden Boot - in red hot scoring form.

They play host this weekend to a Barrow club in disarray and already pinning their season on a successful run in the FA Cup to save them from the financial mire.Phil Wilson's Bluebirds have yet to win on the road and have only won two from eleven all season. Rumours are rife that the club is to follow Northwich Victoria into the clutches of administrators and I fully expect heads to be focussed on anything but the football this weekend. Hyde will take advantage and look the best banker in the North.

The South's banker looks to be a Bath City side that are one of three up the top yet to lose at home and with surefire wins in the fixture list this weekend. Garry Wilson's Eastbourne can be expected to maul Sutton and Peter Beadle's Newport County can flush out a dismal Bognor but the prices on each are likely to be prohibitive whereas Bath at least have mid table opposition in Francis Vines' Basingstoke which should help to make a backable price.

Mark McKeever has been sparkling this season for City and is helping keep alive the momentum achieved at Twerton Park last season. John Relish will be looking to expose the fact that Vines' Stoke side has proved far less effective on its travels than at home (no wins at all on the road) and whilst I wouldn't want to take too short a price, I'm expecting some 1.72 to be matched in this one and that will just about do me.

Blue Square Premier also has a 'home win' feel to it this weekend with the best play perhaps coming in the Forest Green - Farsley fixture. Lee Sinnot's Celtic continue to impress me in their inaugural year but they boast a thin squad that relies heavily for its class on ex-Bradford trainee Amjad Iqbal and new signing from Carlisle Chris Billy.

The latter has signed part-time terms with the Yorkshire newcomers and has been seen to be putting other work commitments ahead of his availability to play for Celtic which can hardly be classed as ideal and is guaranteed to handicap the talented Yorkshire outfit as the season goes on. Whether he turns out at the New Lawn this weekend or not, Iqbal is a certain non-starter as he is on international duty with the Pakistan national side. This is a fantastic honour for both player and club but hardly enhances the chances of Celtic getting anything from their visit to the league's most in form side. Rovers have built on the thumpings they gave top five teams Stevenage and Cambridge by going four wins in a row with Stuart Fleetwood now on 14 goals from 16 starts. It's also 21 goals from 8 games at home for Jim Harvey's latent attacking side and if you take out the blip they showed us when on the telly against Salisbury, that's three goals a game which is likely to prove a bridge too far for Farsley to cross.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

2pt BACK HYDE to beat BARROW
2pt BACK BATH to beat BASINGSTOKE
2pt BACK FOREST GREEN to beat FARSLEY