Football Bet of the Day: Larne head to Latvia

We’ve got some Women’s European Championship action coming our way on Wednesday as the knockout stages begin, while we also have some European qualifiers to take in. 

Below we take a look at one of them for Football Bet of the Day. 

FK Auda of Latvia will host Northern Irish outfit Larne in Riga as they strive to make it through to the second qualifying round of the Conference League. This is the second leg of this tie, with the first meeting last week ending in a 0-0 draw at a sunny Ballymena Showgrounds in a game that only featured a couple of chances at both ends. 

The Invermen couldn’t quite find the breakthrough they wanted as Conor McKendry and Dan Bent missed first-half chances, while visiting goalkeeper Roberts Ozols did well to keep his clean sheet intact. 

Auda substitute Kader Kone could have stolen the victory with 11 minutes to play but Rohan Feguson denied him, leaving this tie perfectly balanced heading to Riga. Larne finished second in the NIFL Premiership last term, but they certainly weren’t in the title race. 

FK Auda vs Larne Odds

They finished a whopping 22 points behind champions Linfield and were only two points clear of Glentoran in third, as they qualified for a Conference League spot. I can’t help but feel they really needed a win in that first leg to stand a chance of making it to the second qualifying round of this competition however, given FK Auda play in a tougher division.

I think it also helps that Auda are midway through their season which runs over the summer and ends in November due to the harsh winters in Latvia. They are 22 games in and currently sit third, a fair way behind the big two of Riga and RFK. However, unlike Larne, they have been playing competitively of late.

Before the first leg, they have won five of their last seven, with their only two defeats coming against the teams above them in the league. They’ve won their last two league games without conceding and kept their third consecutive shutout in that first leg.

All of this leads me to believe that it will be the home side celebrating in Riga on Wednesday night, and they should be able to keep an ineffective Larne outfit at bay in the process. Our Football Bet of the Day for Wednesday is FK Auda to beat Larne and under 2.5 goals at 16/5.

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