English League Two
2013-05-18 - Bradford City vs Northampton Town
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – League Two Play-Off Final
Saturday 18th May 2013 – Kickoff: 1330hrs
BRADFORD CITY
The League Two season comes to a dramatic close when Bradford City take on Northampton Town at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon to determine who gets promoted alongside Gillingham, Rotherham United and Port Vale for the prospect of League One football next season.
This will be Bradford City’s second Wembley final appearance of this season, a remarkable feat for a team that were given little chance of finishing in the top half of League Two let alone challenge for promotion. They will be desperate no doubt to erase their earlier Wembley experience when they lost to Swansea City in disappointing fashion, but to their credit, Bradford really kicked on after that result and now find themselves just 90 minutes away from League One football next season.
Bradford finished the regular season strongly having lost just once in their last nine matches which included wins over Wycombe, Torquay United, today’s opponents Northampton Town, Bristol Rovers and Burton Albion, before disposing again of the latter over two legs in the Play-Off semi-final winning 5-4 on aggregate in a high-scoring affair.
Bradford’s attacking sources consist mainly of striker Nakhi Wells (21 goals, 6 assists), James Hanson (11 goals, 9 assists), Alan Connell (8 goals), Garry Thompson (7 goals, 3 assists) along with Gary Jones who has chipped in with 7 assists so far. Incidentally, Wells and Hanson notched at Burton Albion in the second leg to earn a memorable victory and clinch their play-off final place.
NORTHAMPTON TOWN
Northampton Town have built their season upon a solid defensive unit that conceded just 16 goals all season at their Sixfields Stadium fortress but I wonder if they feel disappointed at not clinching an automatic promotion spot following their poor end to the regular season?
The Cobblers won just once from their last six of the season which was a last day 2-0 home win over Barnet which ultimately did for Barnet as they now face the prospect of Blue Square Premier football next season. However, Northampton Town dusted themselves off winning both play-off semi final legs 1-0 against Cheltenham Town to book their place in the final.
So, Northampton Town have kept clean sheets in their last three matches while in the final third their main threats come from striker Adebayo Akinfenwa (16 goals, 7 assists), Kelvin Langmead (7 goals, 2 assists) with Tozer (12 assists) and Hackett (6 goals, 14 assists) providing the creativity.
THE BETTING VERDICT:
Essentially, this is an away match for both sides and of the two, Bradford City appear to be better equipped and their away performances have been superior over Northampton Town’s. A free-scoring Bradford could just about nick this one over a well-organised Northampton outfit, but it’ll be tight. A 2-1 win for Bradford City with Wells anytime goalscorer.
The Pick :
Bradford City 2 Northampton Town 1
BEST BETTING TIP :
Pick: Bradford City straight win @ 2.49 Pinnacle
