Non-league / Gary Boswell / 10 April 2009 / Leave a comment

The Boz highlights those non-league teams for whom Easter is a genuine footballing holiday...

If it could be guaranteed that those sides for whom this season is now over would just rollover and let the teams still desperate for points prevail, this time of year would be a moneymaker's paradise. Of course it never works out quite like that as old Murphy's Law steps in and causes the teams keen for victory to get attacks of the collywobbles - or perhaps a simple determination to illustrate that they are not good enough to win even against a team that's not trying!

You see plenty of that as the season draws to a close every year and yet there are also those games that prove the system of identifying fixtures between those with something to play for and those with nowt on offer is not a complete folly. As usual, it's just a case of trying to work out which is which.

There are several in Blue Square Premier on Easter Saturday fitting the bill - my favourite of which is The Bluebirds of Barrow's visit to Mansfield's Field Mill. The Stags under David Holdsworth were unstoppable for a while but once mid table safety had been reached, the avalanche petered out and Mansfield went into Tuesday night's game against Ebbsfleet having gained just one point from their last four games.

It was a good win on Tuesday and with Nathan Arnold still one of the League's star players of the season on board, Mansfield are hardly a gimme in class terms for a Barrow side that seriously looked in danger of relegation a few weeks ago.Unable to hit a barn door and with fragile strikers Jason Walker and Nick Rogan out of fitness and out of form, The Bluebirds looked doomed until joint managers Sheridan and Bayliss brought in the wily old League-standard talents of much travelled Lee McEvilly. He promptly got them two much needed wins against Lewes and Weymouth before getting himself suspended.

He's back now and was instrumental in the crucial point gained at Kettering on Tuesday night. He was not present when Barrow wobbled at home last Saturday in their must win home game against Woking.

One man shouldn't make that much difference but I watched the game at Rockingham Road and the simple quality of ball that McEvilly plays up front adds 100% to Barrow's potency and his presence on Saturday should ensure for me that the Bluebirds gain more much needed sustenance in their fight against relegation. The draw at Wrexham and the home win against Histon show that fundamentally Barrow are good enough to stay up despite the difficulty they have in scoring without McEvilly in the side. And I just can't see Mansfield playing with the same motivation on Saturday. They are a big lay for me in their current form at the Betfair price of [1.92].

Three other games worth punting on in the nothing-to play-for-stakes are Oxford v Wrexham where the Dragons' season has stalled into midtable mediocrity and I can't see them working up much of a lather at the Kassam where Wilder's boys are unbeaten in their last seven and on a real charge to squeak into the play-offs. [1.96] looks a very attractive price to be backing Oxford and likewise the [2.3] on offer about a Grays win over Salisbury is worth taking.

Like Mansfield, the Lilywhites had their great run to get out of trouble and are just seeing out the season now whilst the Essex boys are still scrapping with intense determination to avoid the drop. Their form at home remains excellent for a basement side with nine wins from twenty games and this could get them into double figures and ensure another season in non-league's top flight.

The final fixture sees a Cambridge side - who are wobbling their play-off place away with the defeats against Forest Green and Stevenage - attempt to steady the ship against season over Eastbourne. This is a game Cambridge must not lose but at [1.59], I'm tempted to leave this one alone as there is always one exception that proves the rule. This is my idea of it.