Saturday Accumulator Tips: 14/1 fourfold for 6 January

Last Saturday it was high-flying Marine who let us down as they failed to get a result at Basford United.

This week we once again go around the leagues as we pick out four games to set up our Saturday Accumulator...

Leg 1 - Port Vale vs Charlton Athletic - Home Win @ 13/10

Taking a bit of a swerve of the FA Cup matches in the straight-up acca this week, as it is always tough to know exactly how seriously clubs will take the competition.

This means our first game comes from Vale Park and a proper mid-table clash in EFL League 1.

The visitors make the trek up to Stoke-on-Trent having not won a game in any competition since November. That run has included an FA Cup defeat at EFL League 2 side Gillingham and three defeats on the spin since Christmas Day. Not a great run that.

As for Port Vale, they have the form you’d expect from a team sitting in 13th spot in the table. In their past five, they’ve won twice, lost twice and had a draw. Wins over both Wigan Athletic and Blackpool in front of their own fans in the month of December though suggests that they are playing well-enough at home.

I’m not expecting a great game but getting odds-against here to open up our Saturday fourfold feels like a nice price.

Leg 2 - Swindon Town vs Colchester United - Home Win @ Evens

Earlier in the season, teams were going to the County Ground and getting mullered as the home side ran riot with goals seemingly coming from every direction. Recent form however has been pretty abject and a spot in the play-offs now seems rather unlikely for Michael Flynn’s men.

Yet I’m backing them for a home win despite just the solitary victory since the start of December. That win was against bottom-of-the-table side Forest Green Rovers.

Colchester United make the journey from east to west, sitting just above the drop-zone and having not even taken home a point from their travels since the end of October.

The Essex-based club have just been atrocious on the road and their only victory in the league since this reverse fixture back in early November, was a hard-fought home win over a Salford City side that has just totally collapsed.

I’m not backing Swindon much but at home against such a poor team away from the JobServe Community Stadium, the price feels good.

Leg 3 - Stenhousemuir vs Forfar Athletic - Home Win @ 8/13

The only odds-on pick of the four comes from north of the border where I like top-of-the-table Stenhousemuir to win their tenth-straight game in Scottish League 2. Yes, they’ve won nine in a row, including beating Saturday’s opposition on the road back in November to start this run.

Gary Naysmith’s side look like red-hot favourites to gain promotion, as they lead the division by 11 points. Backing them to win at home looks like a solid play most weeks. When you consider Forfar are just eight points above bottom-of-the-table Clyde and a whopping 26 behind the league leaders, it all adds up nicely.

One small note of caution, the visitors have won three games all season, and they’ve all been on the road, including at second-placed Peterhead over the Christmas period. Having said that though, I’m still backing the home side as it is tough to ignore their rock-solid form.

Leg 4 - Dover Athletic vs Truro City - Away Win @ 21/20

We finish our Saturday accumulator in Kent where bottom-of-the-table Dover Athletic face a Truro City side moving in the right direction.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Cornwall-based club were not too far away from the relegation spots themselves in the National League South but four wins from five has catapulted them right up the table. They are now only nine-points from the play-off spots and have three or four games in hand on most of the sides above them.

The home side have been the draw specialists of the division as despite sitting in 24th position, no-one has shared the points more than Dover (Weston-Super-Mare have also had 11 draws) and Havant & Waterlooville, who sit above them in 23rd, have actually lost six more matches.

Still, it is clear that Truro are playing well at the moment and their only defeat in their past five was in Kent, at high-flying Maidstone United. Saturday should be an easier game, and I like the visitors to squeak out a low-scoring victory.

You can check out all of our Football Accumulator Tips on our Acca hub page...