English League One
2013-03-16 - Stevenage vs Sheffield United
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – League One
Saturday 16th March 2013 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
STEVENAGE
Lower half club Stevenage take on promotion challengers Sheffield United at the Lamex Stadium on Saturday afternoon as they look to interrupt the visitor’s winning run away from home.
Stevenage have suffered a wretched run of form lately having lost eight of their last nine matches with the brief respite of a rare win over Brentford 1-0 at home in early March, but this poor run of form goes way back to mid-November last year as the hosts have won just four League One matches from their last twenty one!
Stevenage also suffered another home loss in midweek to a struggling Bournemouth who had previously lost five on the trot, so their confidence is fragile to say the least, and with the prospect of an in-form Sheffield United coming to town it could get messy this afternoon.
Stevenage’s home record stands at 5-5-9 21/30 and they’ve won just twice in their last twelve on their home ground. In addition, Stevenage have beaten top six opposition just once so far in four matches (1-0 v Brentford) but have lost to Swindon Town 0-4, Doncaster Rovers 1-2, Bournemouth 0-1 and drew with Tranmere Rovers 1-1.
SHEFFIELD UNITED
Visitors Sheffield United will be going all-out for a fifth successive away win when they travel south to Stevenage following good wins at Shrewsbury Town 2-1, Bury 2-0, Bournemouth 1-0 and Oldham Athletic 2-0 to go with their overall away record of 10-6-2 23/12.
United will be very keen to add to their tally of 65 points to move closer towards automatic promotion and put some daylight between themselves and the chasing play-off pack, particularly with Brentford and Doncaster Rovers both playing at home this Saturday.
The Blades have put together an eight match unbeaten run on their travels at the moment and they are proving very hard to beat as each fixture passes and the end of the season gets closer. Sheffield United have also racked up eight clean sheets on the road including three shut-outs in their last four.
THE BETTING VERDICT:
To summarise, Stevenage have really struggled in the last couple of months and the incentive is without doubt for Sheffield United, who have won their last four away from home on the trot, to push on with their promotion campaign. I’ll back The Blades for a 2-1 win here today.
The Pick :
Stevenage 1 Sheffield United 2
