GW 30 – Ones to Watch
Matt: GW 30 once again looks to be primed for goals galore and another good opportunity to pick up some big points.
I’m heading into League One for my first tip, where high flying Luton Town are facing Wycombe Wanderers at Kenilworth Road. The Hatters are bang in form and have been almost untouchable at home over the past couple of months, dropping their only points to Barnsley in a 0-0 draw and it’s no surprise to see them top of the ‘home’ form guide. Opponents Wycombe are on a decent run of form themselves, unbeaten since New Year’s Day, but The Chairboys are very suspect on the road, having managed just two clean sheets on their travels all season. Luton will definitely be targeting another 3 points towards their title bid/promotion push here.
It’s hard to avoid the Scottish Cup fixtures on offer and one game clearly stands out from the rest; Heart of Midlothian versus Auchinleck Talbot. The reason for this is quite simple; it’s a David v Goliath type encounter, pitching a Scottish Premiership side against a team from the West of Scotland Super League! However, there is a strong argument to suggest this might not be quite the one sided goalfest you’d imagine! In the previous round, Talbot deservedly knocked out Championship front runners Ayr United AND kept a clean sheet in the process, much to the dismay of a large number of players in this game! They have also played away at Hearts in this same competition as recently as 2012 and, to their absolute credit, lost by the narrowest of margins as Hearts could only manage a 1-0 victory. That said, you simply have to believe that the boys from Edinburgh will see off their junior opposition, especially as this is realistically the Jam Tarts’ best chance of silverware this season. Good luck!
Ally: My first tip comes from the Scottish Cup, where Premiership side Aberdeen host Championship side Queen of South. The Dons are pretty reliable scorers on home turf, having failed to find the net on just 3 occasions this season, and 2 of those were against Kilmarnock. However, they were held to an embarassing 1-1 draw at Pittodrie in the previous round of the Cup against lowly League One side Stenhousemiur. The visitors currently sit in mid table, but their away form is patchy at best, with just a solitary clean sheet in their last 10 matches on the road and I’m sure Aberdeen will be looking at the Cup as a realistic means of winning some silverware this season and this fixture should see them comfortably progress to the next round.
My second tip is from Scottish League Two, where Stirling Albion visit struggling Berwick Rangers. This fixture stands out more for the host’s terrible home form, although Stirling did also win handsomely at bottom side Albion Rovers in their last away trip, putting 5 goals past them. Berwick have just 2 home clean sheets all season, one against Albion and interestingly one against today’s opposition Stirling on the opening day of the season. However they have conceded 35 goals at home in all competitions this season in just 14 games, so I’m going for Stirling to add to the misery here too.