GW 14 – Ones to Watch

Ally: This coming weekend has thrown up a whole host of tempting looking fixtures as the First Round proper of the FA Cup starts, and it’s here that both of my tips can be found.

First up sees League Two side Bury in action with a home tie against National League outfit Dover Athletic. The Shakers currently sit in mid table but have a decent home record, having scored in all but one of their competitive games so far this season at Gigg Lane. The visitors Dover meanwhile sit bottom of the National League having conceded 38 goals in their 19 league games so far. While they may view the Cup as a welcome distraction from their league woes with all the pressure on the hosts, their away record is fairly dismal with just 2 clean sheets to their name all season, and one of those was against a lower league side in the FA Cup Qualifying round, so I’m backing Bury to progress comfortably.

My second tip sees me take on the dreaded ‘curse of the early kick off’ – the League One versus National League tie, which sees Portsmouth travel to Maidenhead United. Pompey currently sit top of League One, and are currently unbeaten on their travels so far this season as they have racked up 8 wins and 2 draws, and have failed to score in just one game. The hosts meanwhile are in abysmal form having lost their last 6 league matches, conceding 23 goals and scoring just one. Portsmouth may well decide to rotate their squad for this game, but I still expect them to have more than enough quality to see off the struggling hosts.