English Non-League
2012-01-07 - Gateshead vs Stockport County
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Blue Square Premier
Saturday 7th January 2012 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Gateshead entertain lowly Stockport County on Saturday afternoon and will be hoping to grab all three points to edge closer to the play-off pack.
Gateshead
Indeed, a win today for the north-east club could see them leapfrog the likes of Kidderminster and York City into the top six.
Gateshead have lost just once in their last nine league matches which was a 1-2 loss at Wrexham (but many teams have suffered the same fate), whilst securing wins over Telford, Stockport County and Darlington and taking points off Braintree Town and Fleetwood Town.
The Heed’s home record in the Blue Square Premier stands at 4-6-2 19/16, with leading scorer Jon Shaw (18 goals, 1 assist) enjoying a stellar season and has scored seven goals in the last ten matches in all competitions.
He’s aided by forward Yemi Odubade (4 goals, 2 assists), midfielder Martin Brittain (3 goals, 3 assists) and Kris Gate (3 goals, 3 assists) while Michael Cummins and Josh Gillies have also contributed with 3 assists each.
Gateshead beat Stockport away in the previous fixture 1-0 back in early December.
Stockport County
Stockport County are hovering dangerously above the bottom four of the Conference despite their recent 3-2 win over Barrow on New Years Day which ended a run of nine games without a win, but Barrow aren’t known for their strong record on the road.
Neither are Stockport for that matter as The Hatters have won just once away from home all season which was way back in October when they narrowly beat Bath City 1-0.
Things have gone from bad to worse recently with striker and leading scorer Nick Chadwick (7 goals, 1 assist) being snapped up on a free transfer by League Two Plymouth Argyle following a loan spell, and this severely depleats their attacking resources.
Stockport’s away record stands at 1-7-5 12/24, and in their last four away matches since that win at Bath City, they’ve lost all four straight, conceded 12 goals and scored just 2.
Their leading scorer now is Tom Elliott (5 goals, 1 assist), along with Sam Sheridan who grabbed two goals against Barrow, but the departures of Nick Chadwick, Michael Paton and Antonio German (who contributed 14 goals in total) leaves a huge void for a team that have only scored 29 in total this season.
The Betting Verdict :
I have to go with Gateshead here in this one simply for the Shaw factor and they should be too strong for Stockport at home here.
The Pick :
Gateshead to win 2-0
BEST BETTING TIP :
Main Pick :Take Gateshead to win @ 1.81 at Pinnacle
Value Pick :
Consider a bet on Jon Shaw to score first @ 4.50 at bet365
