Saturday Over 2.5 Goals Tips: 14/1 sevenfold for January 27

Technically we had a winner last week but with several postponements, I won't crow about the double that was left standing after various pitch inspections up and down the land.

Once more for the Saturday Over 2.5 Goals column, we concentrate on the non-leagues, with six of the seven matches coming from the seventh-tier of English football...

Leg 1 - Bamber Bridge vs Radcliffe Football Club @ 1/2

Once more I’m going non-league heavy with no fewer than six selections from the non-professional ranks in England.

The first port of call is one of our old favourites as top-of-the-table Radcliffe make the short journey up the A61 to take on Bamber Bridge.

The management duo of Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson have overseen 12-straight matches in all competitions where the Over 2.5 has been a winner. That type of form is going to get them noticed and is the main reason they continue to be a mainstay in this column week-on-week.

Last week, they were one of the few games I picked, which escaped the big freeze and actually went ahead. It was a five-goal thriller as they beat Macclesfield 2-3.

Bamber Bridge themselves went three better goals-wise, although it was part of a 1-7 shellacking at home to Marine. Goals feel highly-likely in this one.

Leg 2 - Basingstoke Town vs Winchester City @ 4/9

We are jumping around the country a bit as I’ve gone alphabetically through the six non-league games rather than split them up by league.

No team in the Southern South division have conceded more than Basingstoke but get this, the Hampshire club are in the top-half of the league table!

That says everything as Dan Brownlie’s side can’t keep them out but clearly score a fair few with only play-off chasing Merthyr Town and Hungerford Town having found the back of the net on more occasions. Both of those teams we’ll talk about later in the piece.

This match is a proper middle-of-the-table tussle as it's 12th vs 13th with the home-side having hit the Over 2.5 in six of their past seven. The one time they failed? You guessed it, the week I put them in this column, back between Christmas and New Year. Typical.

Still, with their games averaging 4.1 goals-per-game, you have to like the chances of the Over hitting here.

Leg 3 - Hungerford Town vs Swindon Supermarine @ 2/5

Hungerford are one of the two clubs who have scored more than Basingstoke in this division and yet, they aren’t the primary reason this game has been selected (or why the odds are so short).

I have played Swindon Supermarine I think now four-straight weeks and they haven’t failed me yet, although last week was close. We saw their game at Poole Town postponed and the rearranged fixture went ahead on Tuesday evening. The nine-game streak of Over 2.5 being a winner for the Marine ended as they lost 1-0.

For me though, that is a statistical anomaly. You have to go back to the middle of November for them not being involved in a game with three or more goals played on a Saturday. That might feel like a niche but playing on a weekend compared to a weeknight is significantly different in the non-league.

The home side aren’t as free-flowing up front as they were earlier on in the campaign but last time out, they lost 6-2 at Plymouth Parkway. That is the type of scoreline I'm looking for and puts this match in, despite the very short odds.

Leg 4 - Long Eaton United vs Redditch United @ 1/2

In the Southern Central division, Long Eaton United have conceded 71 goals in just 25 matches. That is rapidly approaching nearly three goals-a-game. The Over 2.5 has been a winner in five of their past six and top-of-the-table Redditch United are the visitors to Grange Road this Saturday.

A team mired in the relegation zone, with a really porous defence, facing a genuine promotion challenger is a recipe for a hefty away win.

Leg 5 - Marine A.F.C. vs Worksop Town @ 8/13

Remember earlier when I said about how Bamber Bridge lost 1-7 at home to Marine last Saturday? Well that is exhibit A for why this match has been selected m’lud.

21 goals have been scored in the four games Neil Young’s side have played in 2024, with the Over 3.5, let alone the Over 2.5 being a winner in each and every one of them.

Worksop can’t match that but they did plunder ten against AFC Emley in the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup just over a week ago. The visitors aren’t much of a Over 2.5 powerhouse but with the way the home side are performing at the moment, I fancy them to get the job done by themselves.

Leg 6 - Merthyr Town vs Didcot Town @ 1/2

As mentioned earlier, Merthyr Town are the top-scorers in the Southern South Division and they are very much in the promotion-mix.

On Saturday, they face relegation-threatened Didcot Town, who have found a semblance of form in recent weeks having pulled out back-to-back victories, which took their total points total for the whole season from 12 to 18 just in 180 minutes of football.

Expecting them to make it three wins from three though feels like a longshot and when you notice that the Over 4.5 would have been a winner in four of the five games Merthyr have played since Christmas, you can see why I’ve put this leg in. Both teams could well score and I like the home side to grab more than a couple.

Leg 7 - Larne vs Newry City @ 4/9

Once more I look over the Irish Sea and play a match involving Newry City. The side bottom of the NIFL Premiership continue to attract me in terms of the Over 2.5.

This weekend they travel to face second-in-the-table Larne and I’ll just put out a couple of statistics. The home side have scored an average of two-goals-per-game. The away side have conceded at an average of 2.48 per-game.

In recent weeks, Newry City have lost 0-4 at home to Glenavon and Dungannon Swifts, who are only just above the relegation zone, managed to put five past them. If two teams in the bottom-half of the standings can score four and five then what can a decent outfit do? I like a big home win here.

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