The Play-Off Finals
Wembley stages the three play-off Finals this weekend and football fans and punters alike can look forward to what promises to be an exciting and entertaining bank holiday weekend.
Championship Final
It’s Hull v Bristol City to see who will be competing with the Premier League elite next season. There isn’t a lot to choose between these two teams, but we think Hull 13/10 (Coral) may just have the edge.
Bristol City 9/4 (VCbet) came through a tough Semi-Final against Crystal Palace and deserve their place at Wembley. They have a good record against Hull having won seven of their last nine meetings between the two teams and will pose a serious threat to Hull.
Hull reached Wembley by comprehensively beating Watford 6-1 on aggregate. They finished the season in good form and have kept that form going in the play-offs and it’s this momentum that we think might just see them through this match.
There’s no home advantage for either side with the tie being played at a neutral venue. So the away form of the two sides may come into play. Once again there’s not a lot between them, with both teams finding away goals hard to come by. Bristol City only scored 21 goals in 23 away games while Hull only scored one goal more. Hull did have some good away victories over title rivals however, while Bristol City didn’t manage to beat any team above 13th positioning the league away from home. We think Hull’s record against top sides may well give them an advantage here, given Bristol City’s poor away record.
Championship Play-off finals don’t usually yield a lot of goal, and we expect this one to be a close match with few chances falling to either side. Bristol City do have a potential match winner in Lee Trundle, who is always likely to come up with something a bit special. He’ll relish playing on the big stage and it would be no surprise to see him pop up with a goal. He’s worth backing to be the first goalscorer 9/1 (Ladbrokes) and also to score anytime 3/1 (Paddy Power)
It’s going to be a close match but we’re going for a 2-1 win for Hull 8/1 (Bet365)
League One Final
It’s an all Yorkshire Final between Doncaster and Leeds United and this will be played like a true local derby. This is a match that could go either way and may well go beyond the 90 minutes before being settled.
At 6/5 (Bodog) Leeds are favourites to win the match but they cannot afford to play like they did in the first –leg of their Semi-Final against Carlisle if they want to win this one.
Both of these teams try and get the ball down and play football but there’s a good chance they could cancel each other out and it could be a match where a single goal settles it.
Doncaster thrashed Southend in their Semi-Final and are capable of upsetting their more established rivals at Wembley. It has to be said that Doncaster’s best performances have all come at home this season while Leeds have managed to win away at places like Carlisle and Leeds may well have the edge here. Leeds have players with play-off experience. Like Freedman and Prutton and they could well influence a game where experience could prove vital.
Doncaster are 9/4 (VCbet) and the draw is 9/4 (Coral) .
We’re tipping Leeds to win 1-0 6/1 (Skybet) and we’re going with Dougie Freedman to get the all important goal at 13/2 (Bet365)
League Two Final
Just two points separated Rochdale and Stockport during the season and both showed character to come through their Semi-Finals. Stockport are 13/8 (Coral) to win, while Rochdale are 7/5 (PaddyPower). There really is nothing to choose between the two sides and we can’t separate them.
Stockport have been in good form since the turn of the year and have had many good results against teams who were promotion rivals. They have a lot of youngsters in the team and how they perform on Monday may well come down to how these inexperienced players handle the occasion.
Rochdale have only lost away from home four times this season, but they are prone to losing goals and it’s difficult to see them keeping a clean sheet here.
We think this one is set to go to extra-time and are going to back the draw 9/4 (Skybet)
We do think there will be goals in this game however and are going to take a chance on a 2-2 result 14/1 (Partybets)