The Vital Bet - Weekend's Football

Resident tipster southernhoop gives us his opinions and the fixtures to watch for value on this FA Cup weekend.

It's FA Cup first round this weekend and a chance for one of the non league sides to spring a major shock by beating a league side.

However, which one(s) produce the goods on the day, remains to be seen. It may be worth considering any of the following non league sides at home to league teams.

* Paulton Rovers at odds of up to 14/1 v Norwich.
* Bromley odds up to 6/1 v Colchester.
* Stourbridge odds up to 6/1 v Walsall.
* Gateshead odds up to 5/1 v Brentford.
* Nuneaton odds up to 5/1 v Exeter.

I've actually done a 10p (no expense spared!!) accumulator with Ladbrokes which pays £1080.00.

Steering clear of the 'cupsets' and the difficult to predict Championship (see Prediction League Cartouche!) I find myself strangely drawn to the lower Scottish leagues.

With a little research I am able to point you towards some absolute 'bankers' north of the border.

* Scottish Division One leaders Queen of the South are away at bottom club Ayr, hence being given the very dubious honour of being my BET OF THE WEEK. Odds are around about 5/6.

* Third placed Raith should be too strong at home for seventh place Dunfermline and are quoted 11/8.

* Fifth placed Partick are away at eighth placed Morton who have one of the worst home records anywhere, scoring only once in five games, Partick represent great value at 5/4.

* In Division Two second placed Cowdenbeath are away at second bottom Clyde, again good value at 11/8.

I've put the 4 together in a £1 accumulator, together with 4 £1 trebles (total stake £5) which pays £56 on my Ladbrokes account (remembering the odds quoted above are based on Betfair, where you get better value). The good thing about doing trebles is obviously you can still profit if only three teams win.

As far as the hoops game goes on Saturday, after the last two games I'll leave it to you. Last Friday I predicted Buzz to score first after a foul on one of our wingers, damn crystal ball picked the wrong fixture!

Any questions, please feel free to ask, although not this Friday as it's golf day and all night drinkies for a mate's 50th birthday. Obviously he's considerably older than me!

Good luck everyone.




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