League 1 betting preview.........
Mar 28, 2023
League 1: Exeter City- Barnsley
| 2022/23 | Overall | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Gdf | Pts | Form | P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A | ||||
| 1 | Plymouth Argyle | 38 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 67 | 41 | +26 | 80 | WWLW | 19 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 13 | 19 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 29 | 28 | ||
| 2 | Sheffield Wednesday | 37 | 23 | 9 | 5 | 64 | 28 | +36 | 78 | LLXW | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 42 | 14 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 14 | ||
| 3 | Ipswich Town | 37 | 21 | 12 | 4 | 72 | 31 | +41 | 75 | WWWW | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 42 | 12 | 18 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 30 | 19 | ||
| 4 | Barnsley | 36 | 22 | 6 | 8 | 60 | 31 | +29 | 72 | WWWW | 18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 36 | 18 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 24 | 13 | ||
| 5 | Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 52 | 31 | +21 | 64 | XLOL | 19 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 28 | 11 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 24 | 20 | ||
Last Tuesday I previewed Barnsley's home game with fellow promotion hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday .........
Two Yorkshire rivals separated by just 25km and 9 points and a reasonable chance that both will be playing Championship football next season. Wednesday are a big club, who play in famous old , albeit run down, Hillsborough and with a large supporter base, they looked booked for a return to the second tier and they have not lost since October 4th, which is 23 games. It has been an awesome run and they have been scoring for fun, but just one goal in each of their last four starts, although they still took 10 points from those and are very tough to score against. Barnsley have been no less impressive in recent times and they have won 15 of their last 20 starts and been relentless over the last two months with a 9-2-0 record and scoring 26 goals , which included heavy defeats of Plymouth Argyle and Derby County, two direct promotion rivals, here at Oakwell.
Michael Duff is in his first season as head coach at Barnsley and it is worth a quick look at his career, which highlights what can be achieved by hard work. He has played in all of the top eight tiers of English football and did so in ascending order, the only player ever to do so. He did this over a 20 season career, making 700+ appearances and playing for his country (Northern Ireland). His first coaching job was at Cheltenham Town and he took them to their first ever automatic promotion and then to the highest league placing in their history in double quick time, he moved to Oakwell in June last year and he has already won three MOTM awards here, but promotion is the aim and with two games in hand on all bar Wednesday and still to host Ipswich Town, the only other top six team they have still to play, they look well positioned if they can take something from this evening.
The job he and his staff have done is incredible, when he arrived, there was a big disconnect between the club and supporters, the ownership had just changed or rather had been restructured, with several shareholding directors removed from the board and a debt had to be financed by further player sales. Hence the slow start to their campaign. They now have the supporters back on side (tonight is a sell out) and aiming for a third straight promotion from League 1 after going up in 15/16, 18/19 and hopefully this season, they actually finished 5th in the Championship in 20/21, but were relegated last season and I have documented those issues in the past. They should still be a second tier side and need to get up once again and just stabilise and Duff feels the man for the job if this time, they keep expectations realistic especially if they remain a selling club ( that is their business model and nothing wrong with that), but few clubs can remain on the up, whilst always selling prize assets, only Brighton and Brentford have really achieved that. Anyway, that is for the future, right now it is about looking to force their way into the top 2 and beating Wednesday, something that no one has managed to do in almost six months.
However, a few signs that maybe goals are starting to be harder to come by for the Owls and they have had season low possession stats in their last two starts, we all know that those do not mean much in modern football, but seem more noteworthy when a team has been scoring freely and averaging 50% + of the ball and then it dips significantly below 40% for the first time all season and, in back to back games. They also didn't create a single BC in either and had only three attempts ITB in the game played on the road (at Portsmouth, 9th place, but conceded second most goals amongst the top 10). That might be trying to pick holes in a suit of armour, but their offensive trend is downwards and Barnsley will test the Wednesday backline more than almost anyone else has in recent months.
The hosts were two up very early and won a wide open encounter ( 12 BC's, 23 attempts ITB ) 4-2 despite the Owls levelling things up halfway through the second half. Afterwards Duff spoke of that result and high energy performance and huge backing from the crowd being "nine months in the making". This is a very confident group now and one full of goals. They will make the long trip down to Exeter knowing another win will take them level with Ipswich whom they have still to host and just three points off the automatic spots and it is now a real any two from four race, with the quartet at the top, now clear of the chasing pack. City are in midtable and have nothing much at stake, but did win 5-0 at home to relegation haunted Accrington Stanley on Saturday. They will get their own confidence from that, but cannot match the Tykes motivation and the visitors will be fully rested and ready to go again after having a free weekend.
2 units Barnsley -0.5 ball 2.33 asian line.
Good luck!
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