English Division One 7/8th Aug

[kompressaur]

Bristol City v Torquay 1.61 3.10 5.50
Chesterfield v Brentford 2.50 3.10 2.50
Doncaster v Blackpool 2.00 3.10 3.30
Hartlepool v Bradford 1.83 3.20 3.75
Hull v Bournemouth 1.72 3.10 4.50
Luton v Oldham 2.10 3.10 3.10
M K Dons v Barnsley 2.50 3.10 2.50
Peterboro v Tranmere 2.62 3.10 2.37
Sheff Wed v Colchester 1.83 3.00 4.00
Stockport v Huddersfield 2.10 3.10 3.10
Walsall v Port Vale 1.80 3.10 4.00
Wrexham v Swindon 2.50 3.10 2.50

Prices with William Hills

Komp is that fred Gee (ex Corrie) or John hartson in that pick.

Anyhow I'm going for Bristol City against newly promoted Torquay. Surely after Adam & Eve City must get out of this division soon.

[PompeyPunt]

I think the bet for me in this league will be to lay Chesterfield against Brentford. For me, these two teams should not really be priced up around the same, i make Bentford the favs here.

They are a team certainly on the up, a good manager, new signings arriving who have some quality for this league, whilst for me Chesterfield are the weakest side in the league. They were around 2 mins away from relegation last season, and i can see them being one of the whipping boys this season.

Only the fact there are sometimes quite a few early season draws is the reason i'm only going to lay Chesterfield, and not back Brentford for the straight win.

Bmouth look a nice price at 7/2. I expect them to have a good season with Fletcher back and I am not convinced Hull will be a top3 side that all the Bookies are predicting. Remember the tru odds for an average away team is between 5/2 and 11/4, which is what I think should be quoted for Bmouth.

[Zebedee1]

Bristol City should be pretty close to full strength this Saturday (Doherty & Goodfellow to have late fitness tests)
So I'm backing City to win this (1.61 WH) one and over 2.5 goals (1.90 Lads).
New boss Tinnion will be keen to get off to a good start and is planning on playing 4-3-3, we seem to have some good strikers this season and Torquay have sold their top scorer to Wigan.
I know pre season form is not a good indicator, but we won 3-0 at Yeovil while Torquay lost at home 4-2 to Yeovil

I agree with Pompypunt about Brentford, they have also won on their last 3 visits & seem to have made some good signings.

Ok here we go, another 9 months of studying ahead and as always IMO the need to be a little cagey over the first few weeks. I'd never go as far as to say its shooting in the dark early doors, but I tend to keep stakes conservative for the first few matches.

League One hold two snippets of value IMO, first up the already mentioned Bournmouth @ 7/2 (Hills) for the trip to Hull. I Agree with Second Sight and Ladbrokes this is more a 11/4 shot in my book. Bournmouth are a very settled outfit the nucleus of their squad has been together for many years now and a trip to big spending Hull should not daunt them. Only Bristol City in the top 12 let in fewer away goals than The Cherries last year where lynch pin Carl Fletcher is a class act. Manager Shaun O'Driscoll has also added ex Cherry Eddie Howe this week on loan from Portsmouth at this level a shrewd purchase. Bournmouth may have lost Wayne Feeney in the summer but returning striker Alan Connell and new boy the pacy Danny Rodrigues are more than adequate replacements.

Hull have added numerous names such as Barmby and Wilbraham over the summer, but as always expectation will lie heavy at Peter Taylor's door. There's no doubt the Tigers have the potential to do well but sometimes you feel they are priced on status rather than ability.

First day and anything could happen, but street wise Bournmouth could spoil the new boys big day and return with at least a point at a fancy price.

In my Ante Post rantings I heavily tipped Bradford to be relegated I see their price has dropped from 11/2 to 5/2 in some places. City have actually won a couple of pre season friendlies and have at least now boosted their squad to over 16 players courtesy of a few unwanteds and trialists. Neveraless Hartlepool get the nod as value @ 11/10 (Bet 365) IMO to begin City's decline.

Pool firstly need to clear any playoff hangovers, if that can be acomplished this a tough test for Colin Todd's boys. United have not seen much summer transfer activity Neale Cooper preparing to run with the same squad that did so well last year. Though Pool's home record was not quite as prolific last time out, there are undoubtably easier matches for Bradford to have started their campaign.

Long term opposing Bradford will have value IMO, first game a little cloudy but as my marker says 8/11 Hartlepool the price dictates a small wager.

Recommendations

Bournmouth 7/2 plus draw saver (Hills) 1 pt
Hartlepool 11/10 (Bet 365) 1 pt

Pts Ratio 0.25 - 5

FA

Hey, new to punterslounge and this is my first post as yet- thought it wouldnt be kind of me to keep all my selections to myself, so ive decided to share my selections so everyone can share my glory (hopefully).

As modest as i am, i beleive i have a good grasp of the leagues outside the premiership and as a Man City fan ive prepared for the future by looking at these lower divisions in advance, i guess u have to be realistic.

From this weekends games its got to be swindon at 6/4 the pick of the bunch. Arguabley the best team in the division and although they lost tommy mooney, they still have Parkin to bang in the goals and i think they will have a great year with a great start to match. Wrexham are a pretty ordinary side who actually finished quite well last season but i think swindon are well equipped to win if they perform at near or at the level there capable of and i suspect they will be fired up more than ever to play there best for the first game of the season.

Tranmere are also a good bet at 7/5 to beat peterborough, Tranmere finished well towards the end of the season and have brought in few good, class new faces such as Mcateer and Peterborough always struggle and survive by selling there best players. I fancy tranmere to easily beat Barry fry's men and ill be very suprised if they dont.

I see the best value in the division to be torquay at 5/1 to beat Bristol City. I wont be heavily backing this myself but i think Bristol will not find torquay to be an easy side to pass and there will be a lot of pressure on them to perform early otherwise the new managers position will be under threat and also the club could face another season without promotion. So witht he momentum from last seasons promotion i fancy torquay to pull a suprise.

good luck dudes if u take any of this on board and lets hope i benefit from some beginners luck!

:b

[keemanan]

welcome to the PL chritianoo , some pretty good analysis there especially for a first post , I like the Tranmere price a lot good luck dude

Christianoo - welcome to the PL and many thanks for your thoughts. I think I have seen Torquay quoted at 13/2. I use one of the odds comparison sites to find best odds and like some others in the PL have a number of accounts to increase my betting options. Two sites I have used are:

www.oddschecker.com
www.betbrain.com

Good luck with your tips.

Agree anything evens or above is value on Hartlepool. I tried to get 25/1 with b365 yesterday and they reduced their odds to 20/1, after a write up in RP that said Pools should be 12/1 for Div1.

Bradford have signed Boro's England Youth team goalie Ross Turnbull on loan. He is good and seems alot older than he actually is. He has been on Sky a bit in England schoolboy and Youth matches, played in 2003 Youth Cup final against MU. He spent some of last season at Darlo and helped their form pick up. Colin Todd is a shrewd judge and if he is given some money for wages I think he can keep Bradford up, but I can see the attraction for punters to back them at 5/1 for relegation.

Staying clear of the result of this one, although I would agree that the B'mth price is a shade high. The bet for me is Bet365 offering 9/2 about Barmby scoring anytime. Even discounting his useful knack of scoring on his debut, he is likely to find himself in the box a fair bit - he won't be on the field to cover the centre backs. I also think it could be an open game tomorrow. Finally there is a suggestion that Barmby may start up front with Wilbraham as Peter Taylor has suggested that Danny Allsopp's pre-season form has been lacklustre.

He's 16/1 to score first/last. Probably he won't last the 90, but a first scorer bet might be a good thing if he's playing upfront. Until 2.30 Sat, have a nibble at the 9/2.

The local NE paper says that Bradford has sold all 980 tickets, so their fans have not giving up on the team, makes me a bit wary of Pools at odds on.

Darlington have price offer tommorrow are are expecting bigger than average crowd at home to Grimsby may help home side a little.

I'm not surprised that Bradford City fans are travelling in numbers - they are a loyal lot, and probably feeling chuffed to be starting the season at all. But as Hartlepool haven't changed personnel very much it's reasonable to expect last season's form to continue. The 11/10 price, however, suggests that Bradford must have improved in the close season, which I don't think is the case. The price is what you'd expect for, say, Hartlepool v Swindon or Brighton at the end of last season. Fundamentally, Bradford aren't that good, I believe.

I think anyone taking 1.61 on Bristol City is not looking into things enough.

Last year in the first game of the season we were away to Northampton, the championship favourites again and we beat them 1-0. They, like Bristol City had pressure on them and bought to many players who take time to gel together, a la Chelsea. At that point we were one of the favourites for relegation.

I am going to watch the game and I am looking for Torquay on the asian handicap.

May be wrong, but 1.61 is far too short!

Jon

Brentford (17/10 Bet 365) finished the last campaign brightly after Martin Allen took over the reigns from Wally Downes, and will look to begin the new campaign in similar fashion against perennial strugglers Chesterfield.

Allen has made some astute close season signings including ex Premiership strikers Deon Burton & Isiah Rankin, as well as the towering Sam Sodje from Conference outfit Margate.

Chesterfield narrowly survived relegation last season and look set for another struggle this campaign. The Spirerites have lost two of their most influential players during the close season, Glynn Hurst (to Notts County) and Chris Brandon (to Huddersfield), and whilst they have brought in veteran Wayne Allison, don't look to have the quality to match many of their counterparts in this division.

I expect the Bees to get off to a flying start this season, beginning with taking 3 points from Saltergate.