Blue Square Bet Premier – Live Match & Weekend Betting Preview

Friday’s Live Match – MACCLESFIELD TOWN v GRIMSBY TOWN
Grimsby Town look to go back to the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier table with a win at Macclesfield Town in Friday night’s live game on Premier Sports. A two-goal victory for the Mariners will secure a return to the summit for the first time since February 19 in this most fascinating of Conference seasons. Just five points separate the top five in the standings as we enter the penultimate month of the season. Grimsby are the narrow 13/10 favourites to win at Moss Rose and a win by two goals or more is priced at 16/5 on the -1 ‘Match Handicap’. Grimsby have only won one of five visits to sides in the top half of the table, with the other four matches ending in goalless draws. ‘No Goalscorer’ in this match is priced at 10/1. A home victory for Macclesfield is offered at 15/8. Steve King’s team are one of few to have won at Blundell Park this season and will complete the double over the title second-favourites with a victory here. Defeat for Grimsby in their last away game at Braintree Town was their first of the year and ended a sequence of 12 unbeaten league matches. They got back on track with a 3-1 home win over Ebbsfleet United in midweek. Macclesfield already have home wins on the board against the current top two – Wrexham and Kidderminster – but have only won two of their last six matches.

Grimsby games tend to be low scoring affairs this season due to their defensive record of just 24 goals conceded, the best in the division. It’s a must win match for the home side if they are to make any late drive for a play-off position and boss King will be expecting a big reaction after the horrendous 4-0 home defeat to Gateshead exactly a week ago. That could lead to an open affair and ‘Over 2.5’ goals at 8/11 looks the best bet on that particular market. Matthew Barnes-Homer is in fine form for Macc this season and is challenging at the top of the scoring charts. He is 11/2 to score the first goal of the game and 6/4 to score at any time. Jack Mackreth was outstanding in Macc’s last TV outing away at Ebbslfeet and he is well worth backing at 7/2 to score at some point in the game. Richard Brodie and Ross Hannah are both 6/1 to break the deadlock for the away side. An early goal looks possible and in our ‘Time of First Goal’ market the selection ‘16-30mins’ at 11/4 is recommended. The best correct-score bet could be a 3-2 away win at 25/1.

Saturday’s Matches
Regardless of what happens on Friday night, Wrexham and Kidderminster Harriers will both have the chance to go to the top of the table on Saturday afternoon. According to the match prices it will most likely be the Red Dragons, who host Alfreton Town. Andy Morrell’s team are 2/5 favourites to win in the league for the fifth straight occasion. Nicky Law’s visitors have already won at The Racecourse ground this season though and the 4-2 FA Cup victory in November could tempt some punters to invest at 6/1. They were also 5-1 winners at home to Hyde in midweek, which ended a three game losing sequence. Kidderminster Harriers were double award winners in February as five wins in five matches secured a 100% month. 15 wins in their last 17 games has put them in contention for the title and they are also 2/5 to make that 16 in 18 at home to Ebbsfleet United. The Kent side arrive at Aggborough without an away win since November 17. Liam Daish will see this game and the game that follows away at Wrexham as a forerunner to 13 huge games that will decide their fate at the bottom of the table. Points from either will be a bonus according to the prices that will be on offer.

AFC Telford United are searching for a new boss again and things don’t get any easier this weekend as they feature at a huge price of 15/2 to win at Mansfield Town. A win, however unlikely, would still keep them in the relegation zone in the division. The Stags have made a very similar late surge for the title as they did last season, and now appear at just 9/2 to win automatic promotion. Their match odds for the weekend of 2/7 are some of the shortest in the history of the division. Paul Cox’s side are 8/11 to win by more than one goal on the -1 ‘Match Handicap’. Seven of their ten home wins this season have been by a margin of two goals or more, so there could be some value in taking that price against the bottom club. Newport County look to be visiting Hyde at the right time, the Tigers losing four matches on the spin and only managing one goal in that sequence of fixtures. County are the 4/5 favourites to win at Ewen Fields off the back of three straight victories.

Forest Green Rovers have dropped out of the play-off places for the first time since Boxing Day with two straight defeats and they have drifted to 13/8 to halt that slide at Cambridge United on Saturday. The U’s halted their own poor run of four defeats with a win at Tamworth in midweek and are worthy 11/8 favourites to take advantage of Rovers’ woes. Hereford United still harbour outside hopes of a play-off place and feature at 4/6 to see off Nuneaton Town at Edgar Street. The visitors were thwarted in a hat-trick bid as Kidderminster beat them in midweek following wins over Alfreton and Barrow. Kevin Wilkin’s team are 7/2 to gain three important points to go towards their battle for survival. Woking have moved up to ninth place in the table with just three defeats in their last ten league games, rounded off with an impressive 2-0 home victory over Forest Green last Tuesday. Garry Hill’s team are the 10/11 favourites as they welcome Lincoln City and their new boss Gary Simpson to Kingfield. The Imps are 5/2 outsiders after winning just one of their last ten league games.

Elsewhere John Still’s first official game in charge of Luton Town sees them offered at 13/10 to win at Stockport County. The home team slight outsiders at 7/4 following successive defeats. Southport host Dartford as the Evens favourites at Haig Avenue. A win for the home side would see them leapfrog Tony Burman’s Darts in the table. Tamworth lost for the first time in seven league games at Cambridge in midweek and are 8/5 outsiders on a trip to face relegation battlers Barrow. The Bluebirds doing their level best to hang on to their top-flight status are narrow 11/8 favourites. With successive 2-0 home wins over Luton and Grimsby, some punters might fancy taking Braintree at odds of 2/1 to win at Gateshead. The Essex side have won two of their last three away games and face a Heed side who’ve lost five of their last eight league games, despite being runaway winners at Macclesfield last Friday. The game takes place at Hartlepool due to Gateshead’s on-going pitch problems.

Alan’s Best Bets for Macclesfield Town v Grimsby Town:
GRIMSBY TOWN TO WIN 3-2 – Correct Score
JACK MACKRETH TO SCORE AT ANY TIME – Anytime Scorer
FIRST GOAL TIME BETWEEN 16-30mins – Time of First Goal

Alan’s Best Weekend Treble:
BRAINTREE TOWN to win at Gateshead
HEREFORD UNITED to beat Nuneaton Town
WOKING to beat Lincoln City

Macclesfield Town v Grimsby Town is live on Premier Sports TV – Friday 1st March at 7.15pm (7.45pm kick-off) – visit www.premiersports.tv for subscription details.
You can play your part in the commentary for this game! Contact commentators Steve Bower and Ian Snodin during the action to give your thoughts – email: steveandsnods@premiersports.tv OR Twitter: @steveandsnodsps.

Visit www.bluesq.com to open an account and to earn a free £25 matched bet. T’s + C’s apply. See site for more details.

You can follow me on Twitter - @AlanBlueSquare
You can also follow Blue Square Bet on Twitter for our latest offers and giveaways - @bluesq