GW 42 – Ones to Watch
Matt: Welcome to our Easter Monday bonus round, another critical gameweek in the race for the title and one that has traditionally provided some real fireworks. Especially with the addition of the National North & South Leagues, which always bring an added element of unpredictability and entertainment.
It’s those two divisions where i think today’s round could be ‘won and lost’, not least because the fixtures available across our usual leagues don’t exactly scream “Goals!” at you. And being as it’s such a crucial stage of the season, i can make no apologies for tipping what might be classed as a couple of ‘obvious’ picks – though if my experience of the North & South is anything to go by then there’s no such thing! First up it’s National League North high flyers Stockport County, as they face an out of sorts Curzon Ashton at Edgeley Park. The Hatters are vying for both automatic promotion and the league title, but have lost their previous two games and crucially not scored in either…….which is rather a concern given that TUG is based almost entirely on the goalscoring exploits of any given team! However, i’m backing them to get back among the goals in today’s fixture against a side who have secured just 1 point from their last six matches. With leaders Chorley away at fellow promotion hopefuls Spennymoor Town, this could be a great chance for County to regain top spot heading into the final weekend of the season.
Moving from North into South, this second pick could be a potential banana skin despite the huge gulf in league position. Torquay United are 10 points clear at the top of the standings, but having already secured both promotion and the league championship with a few games to spare, there is a case to be made for relegation threatened Hungerford Town going to Plainmoor and getting a result that they could desperately do with. It looks as though the third and final relegation spot is between them and Truro, but importantly Town have a 1 point advantage. Can The Crusaders go to the home of the champions and pull off one of their most vital wins of the campaign? Possibly, but i’m still backing The Gulls to get on the scoresheet as i’d imagine they’ll want to bow out in style in front of their own supporters. Hopefully all of that makes it a free-flowing, end to end type game that produces loads of goalmouth action! Good luck.