Non-league / Gary Boswell / 17 February 2010 /

The Boz salutes one of the many wonders of Betfair and explains how you can use it to profit from this weekend's FA Trophy action.

The single greatest innovation of the Betfair era is the Lay Multiple. Not only can we ordinary Joe Punters play bookmaker and lay anything we don't fancy in any competition, we are also now able to combine lays in a traditional accumulator bet so that the combined odds stack up to rewarding returns for a simple level staking unit.

We know that in football match betting, the great advantage of lay betting is that it keeps the draw result on your side and for me it becomes a particularly attractive proposition when I fancy opposing the market favourite in any match. And when I fancy opposing three on the same day, I enter the lay multiple.

That's where I am this weekend as we attack the quarter final stages of the FA Trophy in which the big three of the BSP - Oxford, Stevenage and York - all remain and have all avoided each other in the draw. All three are predictable short price favourites to win their quarter-final matches at the first time of asking and The Boz is champing at the bit to take all three on.

Two of the ties feature my local Cumbrian sides as the underdog and top of the 'taking 'em on' pops is the Barrow v York game at Holker Street where the Minstermen are a very gettable [2.2].

The Bluebirds have been a cup side this year as their trip to Sunderland demonstrated and they gave us the form line to oppose York on Saturday when they knocked Oxford out of that competition at Holker Street. Sure to be a bruising encounter there on Saturday with both sides coming in on the back of spilt-over aggression last weekend.

York's key striker Richard Brodie got a serious red card for splitting Dean Pooley's head open with his elbow whilst Barrow joint manager Dave Bayliss has had to fight to keep his job for the second time after an on pitch indiscretion in the game against Kettering that is sure to gain him another FA fine. Brodie has history at Holker Street aswell so it's all boiling up to a classic cup encounter and if York win, they must keep their heads in the melting pot. My money is firmly on the value Barrow represent to at least get a draw.

York - of the big three - are my number one oppose but I'll take on Stevenage at the miniscule [1.4] to fail to win their game against sole BSN survivor Workington. The Reds manager Darren Edmundson is hardly inspiring in his 'the last thing we wanted was a tie against Stevenage away' rhetoric but I regard that as bluff. Workington play very robust football with Shaun Vipond an old fashioned midfielders in the Roy Keane mould. He is on fire at the moment and led the line in the historic wins over Rushden and Wimbledon that have got them to this position.

The win at Kingsmeadow was a classic and is a benchmark for believing that they can win again. I was at Borough Park the day they beat Rushden and can testify to the Alamo defending after taking a shock two goal lead inside 10 minutes. The heroics of goalkeeper Tony Caig kept them alive that day and no doubt he will be called upon again to perform at Broadhall Way.

Final leg of the lay multiple is in the Oxford v Kidderminster tie where Chris Wilder's unwobbled Us can be opposed at [1.66]. I fancy this one least after last week's prophecy proved premature and Oxford have steadied their league title campaign with a couple of solid home wins. The form at the Kassam is strong overall with just one league defeat. Kidderminster got a 0-0 draw there three weeks ago though and also inflicted one of only four league defeats on Oxford at Aggborough. New manager Steve Burr has settled well at Kiddy and this oppose the fav is based firmly in the fact that the form of the opposition is sufficient to justify taking on the odds.

The Boz's Bet:
A single stake lay multiple taking on York at around [2.2] against Barrow,
Stevenage at around [1.4] against Workington and Oxford at around [1.66] against Kidderminster.

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