COLCHESTER UNITED v SHEFFIELD UNITED
Football – England – League One
Saturday 4th February 2012 – Kickoff: 1500hrs

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Indifferent Colchester United take on automatic promotion chasing Sheffield United on Saturday as they look for greater consistency in front of their home fans.

Colchester United (13th)
HOME : 5-5-4 24/25

Recently, two wins, two losses and a draw have been Colchester's return of late with victories over Bury and Exeter City, losses at home to Stevenage(1-6) and Chesterfield, the latter being a real concern, and a draw against lowly Scnthorpe United.

The U’s’ home record stands at 5-5-4 24/25, with only Preston (28 goals) and Scnthorpe United (26 goals) conceding more on home turf.

Midfielder Anthony Wordsworth (9 goals, 2 assists) and forward Ian Henderson (7 goals, 2 assists) are the main goal threats along with important contributions from Nigerian forward Kayode Odejayi (4 goals, 4 assists), but all too often their inconsistency has cost them points.

Sheffield United (4th)
AWAY 6-3-4 19/12

Sheffield United currently sit one place and one point behind their arch-rivals Sheffield Wednesday as they look to regain their automatic promotion status and take advantage of Colchester’s up and down form.

The Blades have suffered just two losses in their last ten matches which were both away at Carlisle United who are on form right now and league leaders Charlton Athletic. However, they will be keen to bounce back from their 0-4 defeat in the FA Cup fourth round to Birmingham City and return to winning ways in this division.

Sheffield’s away form stands at 6-3-4 19/12 and have secured recent wins on the road at Bury, Bournemouth and Chesterfield and their form at teams outside the top six is very good – just one loss to Wycombe Wanderers back in September emphasises this.

United’s artillery includes leading scorer Ched Evans (11 goals,4 assists), strikers Richard Cresswell (7 goals, 7 assists) and Chris Porter 4 goals, along with creative midfielder Stephen Quinn (1 goal, 10 assists) and Lee Williamson (6 goals, 3 assists).

The Betting Verdict :

Colchester’s inconsistency is Sheffield United’s opportunity here as The Blades will look for all three points to maintain their promotion push – a 2-1 away win for Sheffield United could be on the cards.

The Pick :

Colchester Utd 1-2 Sheffield Utd

HANDICAP BETTING :

Pick :
Take Sheffield United AH -0.25 @ 1.93 at Pinnacle