Non-league / Gary Boswell / 17 December 2007 /

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

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

Steve Waywell's Hyde United shot to the top of Blue Square North over the weekend with an impressive 2-0 win over Nuneaton prompting a review of my BSN Outrights portfolio.

I've gone on record saying that I think this League is well within the compass of Mark Cooper's Kettering who have still only lost once and who have now become the 'games in hand' team. We have them covered with two points at 3.5 with a one point saver on Harrogate at 5.0 and I had fully intended to leave it at that.

It's not just the emergence of the Tameside Tigers at the summit that has caused me to rethink. Kettering chairman Imran Ladak has a long history of destabilising his club's consistency with off-field antics. I wrote earlier that I was happy that he had learned from the mistakes that scuppered last season's campaign but after watching him get embroiled again in shenanigans with Conference authorities over player registrations (Is it really not possible to keep yourself focussed on the football guvnor?) and being uncertain whether cup defeats against Cambridge City and Hinckley were a blessing or a further indication that the ship is suddenly rocking - I've decided to have some doubts and do some more work on the BSN portfolio to make sure it maintains my record for such things ending up in profit.

I could be worrying about nothing. Win their three games in hand and Kettering are back into the two horse race with Harrogate but there's no denying that we go into Xmas with the irony of the BSP -which looked like being very open - narrowing down into a straight fight between Aldershot and Torquay whilst the two horse BSN
has narrowed down nothing like expected and has arguably opened up again for anyone to win.

There is a case to be made for supporting Hyde. Their extraordinary 28 plus goal difference averaging at almost 2.5 goals a game highlights them as a totally attack-minded outfit. Only one draw in 20 games further stamps them as a typical Steve Waywell team at this halfway stage. Pay for every defeat with three wins and no draws! It served him well in his days at Leigh RMI.

Gareth Seddon is also reason to be confident that the goals will keep coming.

But surely defences win leagues? Five defeats already and a goal a game conceded means they'll entertain but not prevail. Kettering's just 13 conceded in 17 is more indicative of Championship form. Isn't it? If it wasn't for Ladak sending out some of his shipwrecking signals again, then I'd be leaving well alone but ever the coward, ever the cautious, Boz now wants some cover in case the chairman does his wobble trick again.

There's four points profit in Kettering at the moment and I want one of those diverted
onto Hyde who should be posted up at a 6.0+ and whilst I've been in this reviewing mode, I've also decided to post 0.5 of a point on Barrow at 300.0 in case anyone fancies laying it. It would be the miracle of all miracles if the Bluebirds could shrug off the Wilson albatross, win their three games in hand and turn a 15 point deficit round in the remaining 22 games but stranger things have happened in non-league football (circa Kidderminster going up into the football league as Conference Champions after being bottom at the end of September 1999) and there's nothing so satisfying as spotting that kind of miracle before it happens.

The appointment of new joint player managers Darren Sheridan and Dave Bayliss has already got the Bluebirds playing to their enormous club potential again and whilst the niggling doubts about Kettering remain, I'm prepared to divert some profits in pursuit of that bet of all bets - the three figure outsider that sometimes comes in.
300.0 is the correct price for this eventuality. Anyone wanna take me on?

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1pt BACK on Hyde at 6.0 or greater to win Blue Square North
0.5pt BACK on BARROW at 300.0 or greater to win Blue Square

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