Last week looked so good. An hour in and all four of our Saturday Accumulator Tips were coming in but Swansea would turn it around at Home Park and Manchester United did the same at Old Trafford, so it was a miss for us.

This week we go five games deep with the vast majority of our selections coming from League 2. This fivefold is priced up at 18/1 as of the time of writing…

Leg 1 – Crewe Alexandra to beat Tranmere Rovers @ 5/6

With no Premier League or Championship games on the docket due to the international weekend, we go lower league heavy this week, starting at the Moonflake Stadium and backing the home side to win in front of their own fans.

In terms of league positions, on paper this is a bit of a no-brainer with Crewe currently sitting in the play-off places and Tranmere very much flirting with dropping out of the Football League altogether, seeing as they reside in 22nd. Recent form however suggests this is far from a sure-thing, hence the decent enough odds of 5/6.

The away side are actually in decent form, having taken seven points from their past four games. That sole defeat was when down to ten-men at AFC Wimbledon. On the road however, things look rather different as they’ve yet to even take a point home with them in league play. They have played five, lost five. That alone indicates that the home win feels like a safe play.

Leg 2 – Stockport County to beat Harrogate Town @ 7/10

The only away win in this fivefold comes from the EnviroVent Stadium where I have high-flying, free-scoring and winners of seven-straight in all competitions, Stockport County, continuing with their recent bout of fine form.

Manager Dave Challinor must be delighted with the way his side have been playing in recent weeks. Early on in the season they struggled away from home but since August showed up in the rearview mirror, going on the road has been nothing but a joyous experience for their fans. 

Saturday’s match though is no gimme. The hosts have won three of their past four as they look to recover from an extremely sluggish start to the season. In terms of points accrued in their past five, only teams in the top four have gone better. 

I’m still going with the very hot streak of Stockport however. I like their striking options and even though at some point their run will end, this is the type of game that teams with real title winning ambitions find a way to win, rather than settle for a point.

Leg 3 – Swindon Town to beat Newport County @ 4/6

Regular readers of our Saturday accumulator column will know that seeing the Robins to win at home included, is not exactly a rare occurrence. The Wiltshire club have been absolute dynamite at the County Ground so far in the 23/24 campaign.

Here is a recap of their results in front of their own fans, 2-2, 6-0, 5-3, 2-0 and 2-1. Not too shabby that. It is only their bang-average form on the road that is keeping them from being right in the shake-up at the top of the division.

The visitors have taken just three points back home with them to Wales from their travels and that was against bottom-of-the-table Forest Green Rovers back in August. No real reason to believe that they’ll fare any better here.

Leg 4 – Wrexham to beat Salford City @ 8/15

Similar to Swindon above, Wrexham have been a regular in my Saturday accumulator columns, although far more frequently in the BTTS version. 

The step-up to League 2 was expected to be extremely easy and they were heavily fancied by many to win the title. Things haven’t exactly gone to plan and early in the season they had a defence that didn’t exactly inspire confidence. They have conceded five goals on three occasions already this campaign. That is one ugly stat.

Yet one thing they didn’t have early on was Paul Mullin. The 28-year-old is very much their talisman and his absence for the first six weeks or so due to that collapsed lung was felt not only on the pitch but off it as well. Having him back is a big pick me up for the team.

Salford make the long journey down to the Racecourse Ground having finally turned their putrid run around and have actually won three on the bounce in League 2. Beating Crewe 4-2 last Saturday was a very decent result indeed and that pressure valve on Neil Wood’s job security has certainly been released.

Tough for me to back against Wrexham though with Paul Mullin fit. I thought they were the class of the field on paper when the season started and when everyone is fit, I think that is still the case.

Leg 5 – Falkirk to beat Queen’s Park @ 7/5

Unbeaten Falkirk take on a listless Queen’s Park side in the Scottish Challenge Cup on Saturday and they provide us with our only odds-against play of the fivefold.

The visitors might be a division higher than their opponents this weekend but after winning three straight to open their campaign in the league, only a 0-0 draw with bottom-of-the-table has seen them take home any points.

As for the home side, they have yet to taste defeat in any competition having won seven and drawn two in the league plus beating Ayr 0-1 in the previous round of this competition. 

With both teams in very different form, it is tough to back Queen’s Park or even the draw and this feels like a great spot to back a team from a lower-division providing the ‘cupset’ as it were.