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Can Burton brew some old Clough magic at the Pirelli?

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Gary Boswell remains the man in form with fourteen correct recommendations from the last nineteen and a +20 points profit.... Can he keep up the good run? Here are this week's selections.

Various times of the year can be described as 'the silly season' in football prediction.

Boxing Day, Bank Holidays generally, the first few games before the form settles down, what are known in the trade as 'mad midweeks' and this last little stretch before the play-offs.

Wise man say that at such times, the betting bank is buried deep in the ground where temptation cannot reach it!

On the other hand, there remains the skill of reading the variables and some would argue that a banker this time of year is the best kind of banker.

I have two for this weekend -one in Blue Square North in the shape of Barrow who play home to a Tamworth team with nothing to play for and one in BSP where Paul Buckle's Torquay have refound their form and can be expected to cement the runner-up spot with a win against 'given up the ghost' York who have fallen into a form black hole ever since it was confirmed that they could go neither up nor down this season.

Despite the strong feeling for both wins, I'll be keeping the stakes lowish in view of the timing of the silly season and the overall policy of not wishing to risk any of the profits now confirmed from the Premier and North portfolios that I put up in this blog. 40 points profit is the sort of return I like to wrap in cotton wool for a while and use as ballast for planning next season's campaign!

My thanks to all those who emailed comments and congratulations following Aldershot's point on Tuesday night. I consider it a good year for the Conference Premier portfolio - the number one bet for me each football season - and I will be doing a blow by blow summary of the bet in a future blog for all those who still consider it a bit of a weird way to enjoy betting! It has been my premier advice for the past eight years now and not just because it is the best way I've found of securing a long term profit but because I also get my betting buzz from it each week too! Weird but wonderful in that respect!

Friday night's Live on Setanta game is one of several this weekend that scores highly on the silly season barometer so that match betting strategies are likely to be very precarious. I'd like to say that the better footballing side that Burton are makes it a reasonable banker home prediction. The Brewers, however, have been very in and out on the run-in so far and their past record of consistency when the chips are down is not good enough for me to really be risking any of the hard earned cash. More sensible strategy is to treat the game as a watching brief for the upcoming play-offs.

I intend to be portfolio betting on those and both of these teams are in my question mark bracket when it comes to the credentials for being successful in play-offs. Burton's last day defeat at home to nothing to play for Rushden last season when a play-off place was at stake for them is the main source of my doubts about the Brewers reliability but I do have a strong liking and respect for Nigel Clough and the way he has worked at Albion over the years. I'll be willing him to overcome his club's Achilles heel. With my heart though not with my cash!

The Brewers are quite capable of the necessary magic that is very much in the Clough genes but they are just as capable of an abject submission which is to my mind why they are not this season's champions. Their two wins over Torquay on the telly this season marked them out as potentially the best team in this league this season but of course league tables do not lie so caution is advised.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1.5pts BARROW to beat Tamworth
1pt TORQUAY to beat York