Non-league / Gary Boswell / 05 May 2010 /

Gary Boswell looks ahead to the ITV4-televised FA Trophy Final between Stevenage and Barrow. The former go into the match as strong favouites but there are good reasons to side with the underdogs. None more so than the impressive form of Jason Walker....

I've watched Thunderbirds a few times on ITV but I think it's fair to say history is made on Saturday as Barrow's Bluebirds are Live on ITV4 for the first time in the club's history. ITV4 has landed the screening of the FA Trophy final which is a real treat for us long suffering armchair non-league fans who have had to get off our backsides and stand in the cold all this season following the collapse of Setanta. Double whammy because we can also get involved in a live in-play market again. I've sorely missed that betting buzz.

Shame in some ways that the game is not a more evenly matched affair but there's no arguing with the fact that Stevenage are rightly red hot favourites. Their credentials are double-edged as both defending champions trying for their third Trophy success in four years in a season that will be their last as a non league club. The best non-league had to offer in season 2009/10 is indisputable.

With Barrow finishing just 15th in the BSP pecking order, it's enough to make you think the [1.8] 90 minute match price on Borough is a bit of a steal. [1.34] to win on the outright market is also tempting for what on paper looks a breeze for Graham Westley's champions. They won 4-0 in the recent league game at Broadhall Way and I watched it live that day with the gulf between the two sides apparent. The corresponding fixture at Holker Street was, however, a dour 0-0er in which Barrow bosses Dave Bayliss and Darren Sheridan admitted the class gap and lined up with an ultra defensive eleven that worked their socks off to get a point. That also arrows to the uphill task that Barrow have on Saturday.

The Barrow 90 minute price of [5.0] is not long enough then and if this were a league game I might agree but there are a few considerations that make you think it might be worth a tickle beyond the obvious ' this is a one-off cup game where anything can happen'. Firstly, Stevenage won the league decisively with a squad rotation system the like of which has been rarely seen in non league football. Four strikers shone with a goal in every other game played. That's Yemi Odubade,Chris Beardsley, Lee Boylan and Charlie Griffin but none of that four can hold a candle for class to Barrow's Jason Walker.

One of the Bluebirds' Achilles has been over-reliance on the "ginger ninja" from old fishing village Flookburgh.His dodgy hamstring has meant an in and out season where Barrow could be backed to win with him in the starting line-up and left alone if he wasn't playing. One man does not a team make but if there's a match winner at Wembley for me on Saturday it's Walker. Ex-Manchester United and Everton trainee Nick Chadwick joined him up front half-way through this season and it's been a mystery why Bayliss and Sherdian have not persevered with the strike partnership seeing the two more as quality replacements for each other rather than a potential duo. That might change in this one which has been a target game for months now. Walker was rested from several league games with this in mind and there is clearly a health protection issue with him to some extent.

Barrow have a good cup record and the FA Cup elimination of Oxford to win the trip to Sunderland also equates to what they have to do in this. It is a possible certainly.Wide players Carlos Logan and Simon Wiles will use the Wembley spaces well and although Stevenage's defence has been part of their strength this season, I still rate Mark Roberts as gettable on the deck and I think Walker is the ideal player to show this.

The key for me to opposing the obvious favourite is the success of that Stevenage squad rotation. The same line-up in just five starts obviously worked wonders in the league as they adapted the starting eleven to fit the opposition. It has however put an artificial one game rating distance between them and Barrow whose low league position also reflected their lack of squad depth and their reliance on Cup success to continue the financial rescue act that has been going on at Holker Street for some time now. Barrow's man for man player rating and overall one game team quality is closer to Stevenage than the league position shows.

The Bluebirds won this Cup in 1990 and that twenty year cycle thing is in the air again for me. Stevenage are worthy favourites but I smell an upset and just as Luton were a lay last weekend purely because of the price, so Barrow are a back this week for same reason.

Recommended Bet: Back Barrow to win in 90 minutes at [5.0] or better

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: