Non-league / Gary Boswell / 02 April 2009 / Leave a comment

The Boz rounds up the action as we approach the climax of the non-league season...

Plenty of grim stories of financial meltdown in non-league football at the moment and I leave it to you to decide whether you consider it ethical to Lay Lewes again this weekend as they host a still battling Altrincham in the men versus boys match.

Bookmakers are still offering odds on Lewes and there hasn't been the furore around The Rooks that surrounded Weymouth earlier in the run-in. Presumably because Lewes haven't been beaten 9-0 yet although they would have been last week at the New Lawn if Andrew Mangan had been wearing his glasses! He scored three but missed six and the irony for Lewes was that the two genuine Conference players that they fielded last weekend - Anthony Barness and Steffan Cox - were both red carded and are ineligible for the visit of Altrincham. There is quite simply no way in a million years that Lewes can win.

The Boz won't be betting on that though. I'm in this business for the challenge and I also revel in the uplifting side of non-league football and consider what Lewes have done as a football club for the past twelve months nothing short of criminal and most definitely an example of bringing the game into disrepute.

On the other side of the coin is the ongoing saga of Supporters Trust clubs thriving in adversity as engendered by the wholly inspiring AFC Telford who I will be betting on this weekend. 1,819 attended the Bucks Head for the visit of Droylsden which is a crowd figure to please a League Two side. The Bucks faithful are on the road this weekend at Gainsborough's Northolme where Trinity have won just four of their eighteen home games this season and must be considered vulnerable to an in-form Bucks who are seeking to cement their second successive BSN play-off place.

I watched Telford avenge the dire performances they gave in last season's play-offs against Barrow when they visited Holker Street last Thursday to play the much maligned Setanta Shield semi-final. They won 1-0 and made Barrow look a decidedly inferior team. In particular, Leicester loan signing Ricky Sappleton looks too good for BSN level and his linking with James Meredith tore strips off the Barrow defence. With Danny Carey-Bertram,Mark Danks and Steve Jagielka also gracing the Bucks ranks, they look a side that can hold their own in BSP next season and with that kind of crowd support, all bodes well.

They are a tad short at [1.99] to win this weekend and the loss at Farsley midweek was a bit unexpected and dents confidence for the match bet but I'm still with them against a Trinity who are becalmed in mid-table with nothing to play for. I will be posting an odds against figure in the hope of meeting a match.

Two other bets in BSN this weekend as Gateshead look a good thing at [1.8] to win at another of those sides with abysmal home record, Stafford Rangers. The Gate have just five games left now and are in a real tussle for the title with Tamworth who have games in hand. Bogie's boys need to win all their remaining fixtures on paper to have a chance of toppling a Lambs side who landed a monster win at Haig Avenue midweek. Both sides should be followed for betting purposes from hereon in.

My final punt is a speculative wager on Solihull Moors at [4.6] to win a rare away game at the Butchers Arms on Saturday where Droylsden's season has suddenly started to unravel. I'd been researching this bet all week and decided to overlook the Moors' dire away record of only three wins all season in light of the nine game unbeaten run that long serving manager Bob Faulkner had got them on to.

They were the form team until they went and lost 4-0 at Wetherby Road midweek and knocked all the stuffing out of me. I'll give them another chance though as the side is awash with Faulkner's usual talented finds. In particular a Birmingham City teenage loanee called James McPike who looks stuffed full of promise. Derby Centre half Theo Streete has also impressed alongside the ex-Redditch stopper Liam Daly who I always rated. I just can't work out how come they shipped four goals Tuesday night?!!

THIS WEEK'S BOZ QUIZ QUESTION:

How many years has long serving manager Bob Faulkner been in charge at the Moors and what was the team's name before they merged with Solihull?