We're dipping our toe into the glamour of the National League promotion race, and Kev's backing Notts County to take a big step forward.
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Eastleigh in good form, but away form is patchy
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Notts County v Eastleigh
Tuesday 14 March, 19:45
AZ's kids competed well last night in the Netherlands, but ultimately fell to a 2-0 defeat at Roda JC. A tough start, but we move on. We'll head to the fifth tier of English football, because promotion-chasing Notts County are in action against Eastleigh, and I expect a lively home win.
Notts County are embroiled in a terrific tussle with Wrexham for the only automatic promotion spot in the division (by the way, it is a disgrace that it's still two-up and two-down between the National League and League Two), and they arguably play the most interesting and tactically complex football at that level. Magpies' coach Luke Williams is seen as a rising star, and his team has rattled in 93 goals in 37 games.
If Williams is sometimes referred to as a non-league Pep Guardiola equivalent, you therefore need an Erling Haaland to go with him, and that's Macauley Langstaff. He scored 28 goals in National League North for Gateshead last season (his Borussia Dortmund period, if you will), and he has smashed in a league-high 34 goals this term. That's a higher tally than either Yeovil or Halifax have managed this term.
Eastleigh are a good side who are in the promotion mix. They are fifth in the table, and have won three of their last four games. A four-game winning run on the road was weirdly brought to an end recently by a 1-0 defeat at struggling Yeovil, and they have lost six of their last 11 on their travels. Usefully for us, ten of their 17 games away from home have featured three goals or more.
Back in August, Eastleigh lost 2-1 at Wrexham, and I can see something similar here. County have won six of their last eight at Meadow Lane, and five of those eight games featured three goals or more. 26 of their 37 league matches have seen an Over 2.5 Goals bet land. Therefore I'll use the Sportsbook's Bet Builder to combine a Notts County win with Over 2.5 Goals at 1.84/5.