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Scottish Football

Alloa Athletic the outstanding bet in Scotland this weekend

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Border Reiver talks us through his Scottish football betting this weekend

Last week saw Berwick produce a much improved performance in the relegation battle at Brechin. A share of the points was a fair result on the day but if we are to avoid the drop, then we must start winning . Twice last week we let the lead slip. On-loan new boy Kevin Davison opened the scoring and was quite impressive considering his lack of first team action at parent club Hamilton. All round a good display but points are the name of the game and this must be seen as 2 points dropped.

This week we have a home fixture against Queens Park. Queens are currently 12 points ahead of us and are one of the teams who will be in the relegation dogfight come the new year. Although they started brilliantly they have tailed off as injuries and suspensions have started to bite. Last week they pinched a late victory over division 2 surprise team Alloa so they can't be taken lightly. In midweek they faced Airdrie in a Scottish Cup replay and eventually lost in extra time to the full timers. Hopefully those exertions will become evident in the latter stages of saturday's game and we can capitalise on them. The weather has been pretty poor this week with lots of heavy downpours and saturday's forecast is for more of the same. Bear this in mind when making your selections, particularly at the more exposed lower league grounds.

Alloa Athletic v Ross County.

Alloa are currently available at around 3.4 and should be backed when they face top of the table Ross County at Recreation Park. Alloa's unexpectedly high league position is down to their home form and the advantage of playing on an artificial surface seems to be evident. 5 wins from 7 and only 1 defeat ( an embarrassing early season 6-0 to Airdrie) must give them an excellent chance of overturning the league leaders. They seem to find scoring at home quite easy and apart from the Airdrie blip are reasonable at the back. Ross get better results away from home but they have an industrial style of play. They play tight and tend to rely on their physical nature to stop the other team playing. Hopefully Alloa's better skill level will win the day.

Airdrie v Cowdenbeath.

I shall be laying Airdrie at around evens in this one. Cowdenbeath are starting to settle in this division and are becoming more consistent. This week the management extended their contracts and that vote of confidence is showing in the players with last weeks 4-1 win at Ayr their third in a row. Having previously held Airdrie at home, I am confident they can do so again. Airdrie only seem to be able to get home wins when they play the teams from the bottom 3. Cowden sit just behind them in the table and a win would see them leapfrog into a play off berth. I'm not expecting Cowden to win but they should be good enough to hold the Diamonds.

This weeks bets are: back Alloa around 3.4 and lay Airdrie around evens.