Bristol Rovers ticking Over Uner Clarke
October 7th, 2017 | Ian Carnaby's Sports News
Lucky and unlucky. Pointless words, really, and no way to look at the betting game. West Ham and Bournemouth were still 0-0 with the clock ticking towards 4.45 but then the lack-lustre Hammers finally scored against Swansea. Hardly bad luck, you might say, a last-minute goal and nothing doing in the other match; hardly a near miss for the double.
But then you see how many chances Bournemouth had against Leicester, and the penalty incident where the referee was the only man in the ground to miss the offence, and you realise how finely-balanced these things are. The West Ham goal meant there was no great loss on the day but it was close for the double – far closer than it looked at a quarter to five.
A few weeks ago I said I thought this would be a difficult season for Leicester and I still think so. I don’t know if the match bets over the campaign are still available and maybe only Wilson’s were pairing them with West Ham. But I believe 8/13 Leicester and 5/4 West Ham was the wrong way round and, restless though the natives may be, I suspect the Hammers have more room for improvement. If he is allowed to continue, Slaven Bilic may show that he is the cannier manager in a tricky situation. We shall see.
I don’t advise on international matches, which is probably just as well as England’s late, laboured success would have robbed me of a 0-0. Southampton will start scoring freely again before England do, though I wouldn’t care to speculate on the month or year.
So, we are left with Leagues One and Two over the weekend. Two managers from the lower divisions to have attracted attention over the past few years are Chris Wilder, once signed as an apprentice by the Saints, and Darrell Clarke. The latter achieved four promotions in five years – two with Salisbury and two with Bristol Rovers after a late revival could not quite keep the Pirates in League Two.
Northampton could not afford to lose Wilder, who immediately won promotion with Sheffield United, his home-town club, and has them sitting handily placed near the top of the Championship. Northampton, meanwhile, have slipped back and are looking over their shoulder in League One. Rovers have scored only four on their travels, which must be a worry, but they are value at 6/4 to take the points. Yes, I do let stats influence me sometimes and we can see that Northampton haven’t drawn at home and Rovers haven’t shared the points away, so a small saver bet on the draw might be the right move on a very quiet day.
BRISTOL ROVERS 15 units at 6/4 to beat Northampton
