ENGLISH LEAGUE TWO BETTING PICK - BARNET V AFC WIMBLEDON

English League Two

2012-12-08 - Barnet vs AFC Wimbledon

A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter

BARNET v AFC WIMBLEDON
Football – England – League Two
Saturday 8th December 2012 – Kickoff: 1500hrs

BARNET

This fixture will hardly set the pulses racing and probably won’t even get a mention in the major footballing world, but it looks like an interesting match-up to me with hosts Barnet currently sitting bottom of League Two playing host to fellow strugglers AFC Wimbledon with both teams desperate for all three points.

Upon first glance at Barnet’s recent results you’d think I was mad even contemplating backing them in this one having lost 1-4 at Morecambe and 0-1 at Cheltenham Town along with home draws against Accrington Stanley and Oxford United, but delve a little deeper and focus on just their recent home form and you’ll see what I mean.

After a lean August and September, The Bees have finally turned things around in the last few matches at Underhill with wins over Northampton Town 4-0 and a good win over seventh placed Torquay United 1-0 along with points against the aforementioned Accrington & Oxford, there is still hope for them to avoid the drop and they’ll be relying on their home form to get them out of trouble.

Barnet’s home record stands at 1-2-4 9/13 and an obvious lack of goals (both home and away) has held them back this season, nevertheless they have players like Jake Hyde (5 goals), Ricky Holmes (2 goals, 5 assists) and midfielder Mark Byrne (2 goals, 3 assists) along with experienced striker Jon Nurse coming off the bench and I believe they have enough for at least a point today.

AFC WIMBLEDON

21st placed AFC Wimbledon make the short trip across London on the back of a disappointing FA Cup exit at the hands of bitter ‘local’ rivals MK Dons and will need to put this behind them quickly and focus on the matter in hand today. However, recent form in League Two suggests this may be easier said than done having won just once in their last six matches.

A rare away win at York City has been scant reward in recent weeks for the Wombles as they’ve lost to Gillingham, Exeter City, Southend United and Morecambe and they remain precariously perched two places and two points above the relegation places. Wimbledon’s away record stands at a similarly shaky 2-1-4 9/18 and they too have been struggling to score goals.

Byron Harrison (7 goals) is AFC Wimbledon’s leading scorer, and he has support from former Oxford United striker Jack Midson (4 goals) but as a team they’ve suffered back-to-back defeats and another defeat could be in the offing today.

THE BETTING VERDICT:

Barnet’s home advantage and improvement in form recently sets them up as slight favourites here but I’ll take them with the round ball as AFC Wimbledon did get a win at York City the other week. Expect a low-scoring match though.

The Pick :