English Non-League
2013-01-22 - Luton Town vs Lincoln City
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Blue Square Premier
Tuesday 22nd January 2013 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
LUTON TOWN
Pre-season automatic promotion favourites Luton Town take on lower half club Lincoln City at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night as they bid to break back into the play-off pack and try and close the gap on league leaders Wrexham.
With the downward slope towards the end of the season now looming, it’s time for Luton to step up to the plate and put to bed the lower placed teams and gain maximum points at home where they’ve been quite solid so far.
Despite suffering a couple of defeats recently against Newport County 2-5 and Woking 1-3, The Hatters have saved their least effective performances for the road while at home they’ve seen off the very same Woking 3-1 amongst other wins over Nuneaton Town 2-0, Alfreton Town 3-0 and Barrow 6-1.
Luton’s home record stands at 7-2-3 28/14, with only Wrexham (30), Newport County and Dartford (29 each) scoring more home goals than them. Luton will need their firepower for this match and for the remainder of the season as they need to now go up a couple of gears if they are to catch Wrexham.
LINCOLN CITY
Visitors Lincoln City currently sitting in 16th place have won just once in their last eight league matches as they continue to flirt with the relegation clubs in the bottom four. The Imps have just a three point cushion over AFC Telford in 21st place and if Lincoln’s form doesn’t improve soon they could well find themselves embroiled in a relegation dog-fight yet.
Lincoln have not performed that well against teams in the top half of the division, playing seven matches and winning just twice, while Lincoln’s away record stands at 3-5-5 18/21 but the most worrying statistic for Lincoln fans is that their side has kept just one clean sheet in the last twenty three away matches – not the kind of form you need going into an away match at Luton.
THE BETTING VERDICT:
Luton have been pretty solid at home and given Lincoln’s inability to keep a clean sheet on their travels, this should stack the odds heavily on Luton’s side here.
The Hatters just need to step up now.
I’ll back Luton to cover the -1 line here in what could be either a 2-0 or 3-1 win.
The Pick :
Luton Town 3 Lincoln City 1
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
