GW 24 – Ones to Watch

Matt: Happy New Year to each and every one of our players, we hope it will be a healthy and prosperous 2022 for all of you. Let’s also hope that the Covid related postponements which blighted the Christmas and New Year schedule decrease significantly over the coming gameweeks, so that we can get back to enjoying The Ultimate Goals in the spirit that it’s meant to be played, rather than constantly having to chop and change teams at short notice and drop points due to call offs! Fingers crossed! Well done if you managed to negotiate our ‘New Year Special’ without slipping up too badly, it was another tough round (as was GW 22), whereas the ‘Boxing Day Bonus’ really did bring us some Christmas crackers on the scoring front! Here’s a couple of teams for you to take a look at in GW 24, with the deliberate aim of NOT tipping the higher profile sides who have been drawn against lower league opposition in the FA Cup I should add!….

• Dover Athletic v Notts County. Poor old Dover must be desperate for this nightmare season to end ASAP! Starting on -12 and finding themselves still eight points adrift of parity (not to mention the small matter of 24 points from safety!), this really has been a horrific period for everyone involved with the club. In fairness to The Whites, at no time have they ‘downed tools’ in spite of the off field issues and the now inevitable relegation to the National League South. Unfortunately, their quest for a first league win of the campaign will definitely not get any easier on Saturday, as high-flying, promotion-chasing Notts County visit the Crabble Athletic Ground in search of a fifth consecutive victory in all competitions. The Magpies are also in excellent form on the goalscoring front too, having netted 11 times in those previous four wins – including their most recent success, an impressive 3-1 win over promotion rivals Wrexham. Star striker Kyle Wootton is also right among the goals; he scored at least once in every one of those four victories, with Altrincham, Southend Utd and Dagenham & Redbridge also beaten by the The ‘Pies. Another long afternoon for Dover, players, management and supporters alike, could well be on the cards here.
• Airdrieonians v East Fife. This Scottish League One clash has plenty of potential to serve up some goals, with just one goalless game involving either of them in the best part of a year! With Airdrie on the march, following three successive league wins, and East Fife still finding themselves rooted to the bottom of the table and unable to stop consistently losing football matches, it’s all set up for more of the same at the Excelsior Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The home side have a massive opportunity to not only secure their status in the play-off race, but also put pressure on leaders Cove Rangers, who they also have a game in hand over. Three points against the league’s basement side would certainly help do just that and The Diamonds head into the fixture having won seven of their previous eight home matches, scoring 17 times in the process. With East Fife winless on the road in League One, managing a miserable two draws from ten games, and having conceded an eyewatering 43 goals in league action alone, there’s little to suggest this match will be lacking in goalscoring opportunities. The Fifers have already been beaten 4-2 and 2-0 by Cove Rangers and Montrose respectively in the past fortnight and if Airdrie are going to stand any chance of catching those two teams above them in the standings, they need to come away with the same result. A repeat of the comfortable 3-0 home success against the same opposition in the ‘A’ fixture would do just nicely! Good luck to you all and please keep checking your teams to ensure none of your seven selections have their matches postponed at short notice.