ENGLISH LEAGUE ONE BETTING PICK - BURY V DONCASTER ROVERS

English League One

2013-02-02 - Bury vs Doncaster Rovers

A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter

BURY v DONCASTER ROVERS
Football – England – League One
Saturday 2nd February 2013 – Kickoff: 1500hrs

BURY

Third from bottom Bury take on second placed Doncaster Rovers at Gigg Lane on Saturday afternoon as the hosts go in search of their first league win for four matches on home ground.

Recent results have shown a slight improvement for Bury as they’ve held the likes of Carlisle United, Walsall, Bournemouth and Shrewsbury Town to draws along with beating the other clubs around them with a 2-1 win over Hartlepool United and a 2-0 win over Portsmouth to give them a glimmer of hope of League One survival.

However, they face a tough task of getting anything from this match despite having home advantage against a rampant Doncaster Rovers who have racked up ten away wins so far this season. Bury’s home record stands at 2-5-6 12/19 and another draw today appears to be the best they can hope for.

A lack of goals particularly at home has held back Bury from perhaps winning positions and the main reason for their current plight and their number of draws they’ve participated in. Leading goalscorer is midfielder Schumacher (6 goals) and he has Joe Skarz (2 goals, 3 assists) in support but on paper they look unlikely to worry a strong Doncaster outfit who are hunting down automatic promotion.

DONCASTER ROVERS

Onto Doncaster Rovers then, and they are unbeaten in their last six matches and have lost just once in their last twelve which was a surprise 1-4 home defeat to Coventry City who were admittedly flying at the time back in mid-December. But Rovers have been gaining momentum as each week passes by with recent wins over Preston NE 3-0, 1-0 against Colchester United, 2-1 at Stevenage and 2-0 at home to Leyton Orient along with a 2-2 draw against Sheffield United.

Doncaster Rovers are now joint leaders of League One along with Tranmere Rovers and they have a six point cushion over promotion rivals Swindon Town and Bournemouth. Their strength is their ability to get results away from home as their record of 10-3-1 25/9 testifies and not only have they won the most number of away matches so far, they also possess the best defensive record on the road as well.

Six clean sheets at the back while at the business end leading goalscorer is Cotterill (10 goals, 12 assists), along with Paynter (7 goals, 3 assists), Jones and Brown (6 goals each) and they now have experienced forward Robbie Blake coming off the bench.

THE BETTING VERDICT:

Whilst Bury have made slow steps to recovery they will face a very different proposition in Doncaster Rovers today and the visitors have far more depth in their attacking personnel than the hosts and I therefore expect Rovers to win here perhaps 2-1. Give the quarter ball though in case it’s a draw.

The Pick :