NOTTS COUNTY may be a pantomime club off the pitch, but they are very much a side going places on it and punters should pile on to Blue Square and 888's 5-6 about them winning at struggling Grimsby Town on Saturday.
The Magpies, who pulled off a stunning FA Cup upset at Premier League Wigan in midweek, are undoubtedly a class act in this division and so they should be with the money they have spent in recruiting some quality players – and there is no way they will make the trip home from Blundell Park without three points.
They have won five of their last six games, scoring 15 goals in the process, and finally looked primed to make an assault on the automatic promotion places. Incidentally their upsurge in form has coincided with the departure of former boss Hans Backe as under caretaker-boss Dave Kevan they have yet to lose a match.
Grimsby, quite frankly, are terrible and have not won a match since October 6 – a run of 18 matches – and look doomed to go down with Darlington unless a miracle is performed on the North-East Lincolnshire coast.
Neil Woods' side have only won one game at home this season and a serious lack of firepower has been their biggest bugbear, although they brought in strikers Lee Peacock and Ben Wright before the transfer deadline ended. They improved slightly at Aldershot last week, with Adam Proudlock missing a late penalty that would have seen their dreadful run come to an end, but County are a different kettle of fish and there'll only be one winner here. Also, Ben Davies has been on fire for Notts of late and a little dabble may be required at 8-1 on him to score first, perhaps from a set-piece?
ACCRINGTON should collect their seventh win in eight League games at home to Morecambe, with John Coleman's surprise packages arrowing in on a play-off spot. Stanley have been superb lately, beating the likes of Shrewsbury, Notts County, Aldershot ,and even Gillingham in the FA Cup, and they look over-priced at 6-5 with Blue Square.
It was only on Boxing Day that Accrington defeated Morecambe at their place, with Phil Edwards grabbing both goals in a 2-1 win and since then the Shrimps have only got the better of lowly Barnet and look ripe for the picking again. Their season started poorly, but improved massively and during the autumn they won seven straight games, but since that 5-0 thrashing of Bournemouth, the wheels have come off as they even struggled against the Grimsby and Macclesfield, teams they should be beating.
It's probably no coincidence that leading scorer Phil Jevons has failed to score since the Cherries rout as he has been their man this season and while their confidence it's time to take advantage.
CHESTERFIELD are one for the accumulators at 8-13 (various) to gain revenge on Lincoln after losing at Sincil Bank on Boxing Day. The Spireites boast the best home form in the division, while the Imps have injury problems, with their three best players – Chris Herd, Nathan Baker and Adam Watts – all out injured, and with a powderpuff attack that has yielded just seven goals in 13 away games, this could be a comfortable win for John Sheridan's side.
Chesterfield should be joined in accas by ROCHDALE who can bounce back at home to Crewe after drawing 0-0 at Port Vale and losing 1-0 at arch-rivals Bury. That is the longest period they have gone without a goal this season and they can take out their frustrations on the Railwaymen.
The final one to add are BOURNEMOUTH who, despite only being able to field four subs at Rotherham in midweek, produced a stunning performance to win 3-1 and keep their promotion bid on track. They are surely banker material at 8-11 (totesport, Coral) to breeze past Cheltenham who have won just once in eight matches and who have never won at Dean Court.
