GW 11 – Ones to Watch

Matt: Carnage, chaos and craziness last weekend…….just a standard FA Cup week in The Ultimate Goals! What a truly mad gameweek we witnessed; including a ridiculous P7 total, the joint highest individual score of the season and a shed load of minus scores as a result of shocks in the Cup (how many of them were there by the way!) For a more detailed review of all that, check out Sam’s GW 10 report!

Looking ahead to GW 11, our second ‘International Week’ of the season, it’s another opportunity to delve into the National North & South Leagues, with the latest round of fixtures in the Scottish League Cup also available – and if my memory serves me right, the last time we had this competition in play a 1-0 home loss by Dundee Utd against Peterhead caused mayhem! I can’t rule out a repeat of that, but hopefully it won’t be as a result of any tips here!

First up for me is the slightly more familiar territory of the National League though, specifically the match between Torquay United and Boreham Wood. Now if i was to tell you that the visitors had conceded the second fewest amount of goals in the entire division so far this season, you’d probably think i was crazy for tipping Torquay here, but there is some method in the madness! The Gulls are flying high (literally and metaphorically!), after five consecutive league wins has propelled them to the summit of the table. Better still, their goals to game ratio is going through the ceiling recently; a mighty 14 goals in their previous three games, albeit a couple of them coming in Extra Time of a quite extraordinary FA Cup tie against League Two Crawley Town last weekend. That incredible 6-5 defeat was the Devon sides first loss of any description since a 2-1 loss to Eastleigh in early October – their only league reversal to date – but it did continue the trend of fine goalscoring form that saw them also net four times at Aldershot Town and five times at Hartlepool United recently. Boreham had a memorable FA Cup encounter of their own against League Two opposition last weekend, knocking out Southend United (4-3 AET), but followed that up with a defeat at home to Dagenham & Redbridge in midweek. With Torquay having a full week’s rest, i’m backing them to continue adding to an already impressive goals tally in this fixture.

I can never resist the temptation to select sides from the National North & South Leagues when they’re available, despite the fact that over the years i’m sure they’ve caused me more pain than joy! I’ll certainly be continuing with that approach this coming weekend, in fact my second tip is indeed from the NLN. Gloucester City have made an emphatic start to the campaign, dropping just two points from their opening six league fixtures. On Saturday afternoon they face Bradford Park Avenue at their New Meadow Park ground, which is very quickly becoming a fortress for them following four wins out of four on home turf this season. The Tigers have been absolutely ruthless in front of goal in those four outings, scoring a colossal 15 times already, including 4-1 and 6-1 maulings of AFC Telford and Blyth Spartans respectively. Bradford PA will arrive in Gloucestershire in decent form themselves; The Green Army are unbeaten in three and haven’t conceded a goal during that time, so this is unlikely to be a straightforward afternoon for the home team. However, prior to their 2-0 win at Hereford in their last away game, BPA have only managed one clean sheet on the road since an FA Trophy match last November at……..you guessed it, Gloucester City! TUG has a canny knack of producing these quirks, but a repeat of that 2-0 win here looks unlikely given City’s fantastic goalscoring form this season. If there is to be a repeat, it can be chalked down as another disastrous selection from these lower leagues, but being as i’m still boasting a 100% record in this section i’m confident that won’t happen. Good luck to you all!