Where I mention BANKER below, this signifies those matches where I think the favourites should win. These matches I would personally prioritise as regards DRT.

Remember the strategies:

• Lay the 0-0 halftime score in certain signalled matches

• Lay the 0-0 2nd half in matches where goals were expected but have not yet materialised

• Lay the 2-2 scoreline, especially early on in matches. 2-2 shows us that teams are scoring and conceding.

• Lay the away team leading 0-2 before halftime, especially if they are favourites. The home team is usually galvanised by the halftime team talk.

• Lay the underdog if they score first in certain matches ( especially BANKER matches where I would back the BANKERS if they conceded first at enhanced odds)

• Lay the underdog  scoring early in the first half, in the HALF TIME market , especially in BANKER matches.

15:00 UK Sheff Utd v Crewe - 1.33 home BANKERS

Standout Stats

• These 2 last met in the FA Cup , a 0-0 and a 2-0 home win for United.
• This is 5th v 21st in English League One. Sheffield United want to remain in the play-offs and are unlikely now to be reaching the top 2 spots.

Sheff Utd

• 2 match home winning streak.
• 2 consecutive clean sheets at home
• Scored in their last 9 at home and last 12 overall
• Have not lost at home in the 11 matches played 11th and lower.
• No 0-0
• 9 0-0's at halftime at home.
• Scored 21 of their 29 goals at home in the 2nd half.

Crewe

• No draw in 11 away matches
• Conceded in their last 6 away matches.
• 5 match losing streak away
• All losses v top 10 away
• Only scored a max of 1 in a single match away v top 10
• Conceded 2+ goals in all aways v top 10
• Conceded 2+ in 5 consecutive away defeats.
• 6 0-0's at halftime away
• No 0-0 away
• Conceded 43 goals away. 28 of them in the 2nd half,

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• Fear not if this is 0-0 at halftime. Sheff Utd score bucket loads and Crewe concede bucket loads in the 2nd half.
• This looks like Sheff United's to lose. Crewe have lost to all top 10 away, conceding 2+ goals. If Crewe score first, lay them as they don't tend to score more than 1 goal away to top 10.

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15:00 UK Bristol City v Barnsley - 1.5 home

Standout Stats

• 2-2 last time these 2 met in League One  saw Bristol salvage a point late on.
• This is 1st v 7th in League One and is likely to be very keenly contested as Barnsley sniff out a play-off place.

Bristol City

• No defeat in 4 matches at home
• 4 consecutive clean sheets at home
• Only losses at home v 2nd and 5th.
• 6 clean sheets in their last 7 home matches.
• Failed to score in only 2 of 17 matches.
• Clean sheets at home v 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and playing 7th today.
• 6 0-0's at halftime at home
• 35 goals scored at home.
• Only 4 goals conceded first half at home.
• Scored first in 15 of 19 home matches

Barnsley

• No defeat in 4 away
• Against teams above them, Barnsley have only won 1 match v 5th away and lost away v 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th , failing to score away to top 4
• 6 clean sheets in their last 8 matches and 2 clean sheets in their last 3 away matches.
• 7 0-0's at halftime away

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• We are getting to that part of the season where certain teams may play above themselves with the dream of a play-off place on the horizon. So it may be for Barnsley today. But they must end their failure to score away in defeats to top 4 sides.
• Bristol City too have kept clean sheets v teams around Barnsley's position at home.
• This will therefore be a toughie for Barnsley today.
• Bristol City tend to score first at home so we might not see a DRT.  If Barnsley score first, I would back 0-1 as insurance ( as they have won 0-1 recently away) and then lay them in the match odds market , as Bristol are the better side form wise.

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15:00 UK Rangers v Cowdenbeath - 1.2 home BANKERS

Standout Stats

• 0-3, 1-0 and 0-0 Rangers advantage in head to heads. Cowdenbeath are usually the whipping boys when the big 3 in the Scottish Championship meet them. Not the case recently for Rangers. To be fair to Rangers, they had (from memory) some 24+ shots on goal in that last match so did everything except score.
• Under Stuart McCall, a hope this Rangers finds the net.
• This is 3rd v 9th in the Scottish Championship, and with Queen of the South breathing down Rangers' necks, this should keep them honest.

Rangers

• A hideous run of 5 draws, 4 of them score draws, ended with McCall's first win away at Hibs so that was a decent result against one of the top sides in this league, and away from home.
• 3 consecutive score draws at home for Rangers seems them conceding in their last 5 home matches.
• Both teams have scored in 71% of Rangers home matches so that is something to clean up.
• No 0-0 at home

Cowdenbeath

• Have conceded in their last 10 away matches.
• No win in 6 matches
• 5-1-10-4 conceded in their last 4 away matches v mostly top 5 sides .
• Failed to score in 7 of their last 9 matches.

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• Expect a vast improvement from Rangers after their 24+ shots without scoring against Cowdenbeath last time out. rangers are scoring again and recorded a confidence boosting 0-2 away at Hibs latest which caught the eye.
• If the match is 0-0 for a while, lay said 0-0 in the hope the new manager has them scoring.

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15:00 UK Hearts v Queen of the South - 1.5 home

Standout Stats

• Hearts were quite generously priced last week - near to evens, and still won with relative comfort. They have run away with this Scottish Championship and I was worried about complacency, but it does not seem to be the case.
• Queen of the South are in with a shout of getting into the play-offs at the end of the season if they continue to perform.
• This is 1st v 4th in the Scottish Championship and Hearts have won 0-3, 4-1 and 1-2 in head to heads.

Hearts

• Only Falkirk have beaten Hearts this season.
• 8 match winning streak. 0-3 win against Falkirk last time out saw Hearts at nearly evens - value in hindsight.
• Hearts have scored in their last 24 matches.
• 3 consecutive home clean sheets.
• 2-10-4-3-3 scored in their last 5 matches sees no let up despite having the title in the bag.
• Failed to score in only 1 match.

Queen of the South

• So one of my scots readers tells me, QOTS will be in the play offs season end if they keep 4th place.
• They have conceded in their last 4 matches.
• Against the big 3 this season, loss, win v Hibs, loss, 0-0 v Hibs, loss, win v Rangers, loss to Hibs, loss, draw Rangers  so not too bad but as you see, they have lost to Hearts this season.
• 2 0-0's away

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• Hard to read Hearts but I got it wrong last week and they romped home at nearly double the odds. They must be favoured as it seems they are consistently going for it, scoring 2+ with relative ease and have the Indian sign over QOTS all season.l Hearts have conceded to QOTS in the last 2 head to heads so hope QOTS score first to allow us to trade.
• WIth the expectation of a solid Hearts performance, I would lay the 0-0 halftime score as late as I can.

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15:00 UK Raith Rovers v Hibernian - 1.53 away

Standout Stats

• 1-1, 1-3 Hibs, 1-1 in the 3 head to heads this season. Raith have been tough to beat for Hibs.
• This is 6th v 2nd in the Scottish Championship. 2nd is all Hibs can hope for.

Raith Rovers

• 2 match winning run at home
• Scored in their last 8 overall and last 11 at home.
• Recent home losses v Hearts and Rangers, 2 of the top 3 along with Hibs.
• Scored and conceded in 6 of their last 8 matches.
• Scored in 10 of their last 11 home matches.
• 87% over 2.5 goals at home

Hibs

• 4 match winning streak away
• 4 consecutive away clean sheets.
• Only 2 losses in 23 matches, one was last match v Rangers.
• 9 wins in their last 11 away matches.
• No 0-0 away

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• Both teams to score is a strong possibility today and if Raith score first, I would lay them. They don't tend to beat Hibs despite being competitive.
• Lay any late 0-0.

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15:00 UK Forfar v Stirling - 1.25 home

Standout Stats

• 2 consecutive wins for Forfar in recent head to heads.
• This is 3rd v 10th in Scottish League One. Forfar could go top with a win

Forfar

• No draw in 13 matches,
• 3 match winning run at home.
• Scored in their last 5 home matches.
• 2 consecutive clean sheets at home.
• 3 of the last 4 home wins were 1-0.
• Last 3 defeats came away from home.
• Failed to score in 5 matches.
• Only 1 0-0

Stirling Albion

• Conceded in their last 26 matches.
• No win in 5 aways
• Only 1 win in 13 away matches.
• 2-1-4-4-1 conceded in recent away matches.
• Only 1 0-0 away.

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• Lay any late 0-0. Adequate motivation for Forfar today to hope for a win as per the market.
• Stirling Albion simply keep conceding so take advantage of that stat if a) they score first, and b) the match is 0-0 for a while.
• Forfar have simply been doing the bare minimum to win at home recently - 1-0. Will that continue today? 1-0, 4-0, 4-1 for me today incase Stirling concede 4 goals yet again away from home.

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17:00 UK Czech Republic v Latvia - 1.25 home BANKERS

Standout Stats

• These 2 last met in 2010
• This is 1st v 5th of 6 in Group A in the Euro qualifiers.The Czechs have a full house - 12 points.

Czech

• 3 2-1 wins and a 2-4 sees the Czechs scoring and conceding, but scoring more than their opponents.  It is quite a tough group filled with an impressing Iceland, Netherlands and a sometime pain in the arse Turkey, all teams the Czechs have beaten.
• Latvia and Kazakhstan are the 2 minnows of the group and we expect nothing less than another win for the home side.  The Czechs have a lucky rabbit's foot at home. 2-1 v Netherlands care of a late 90th minute winner and 2-1 v Iceland care of an Icelandic own goal winner.

Latvia

• Draw with the kazaks, and 1-1 v Turkey with losses v Iceland and Netherlands, convincing losses without scoring.
• Failed to score in 5 of their last 6 away matches in all competitions.

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• This should be an easy enough assignment for a fully tuned up Czech side against a Latvia struggling to score away from home. On close inspection, Czechs have been extremely lucky to win 2-1 at home but the opponents they meet today are such a drop in class that luck should not really play a part.

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17:00 UK Croatia v Norway - 1.4 home

Standout Stats

• Croatia and Italy on 10 points dominate Group H with Norway 2nd on 9 points.
• These 2 last met in 2012

Croatia

• The return of Modric must be a massive boost to Croatia.
• It is quite an easy group on the face of it. Croatia have beaten Malta 2-0, beaten Bulgaria 0-1, beaten Azerbaijan 6-0 and drawn with Italy. The match with Norway will be somewhere inbetween a Bulgaria and an Italy!
• 2 consecutive home clean sheets in the qualifiers .

Norway

• Norway were beaten by Italy, beat Norway 0-3, Bulgaria 2-1 and Azerbaijan 0-1.
• I expect struggles today for Norway akin to their match with Italy. Croatia are a real step up .

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• An interesting match. Both sides have really had a breeze in the euros against poor opponents, and when they met the one shining light, Italy, both sides faltered.
• Both will get a work out by meeting better opposition than those recently encountered tonight. Croatia have 2 clean sheets at home, will that continue today in a match in which it's difficult to get a solid angle in.

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17:00 UK Azerbaijan v Malta - 1.57 home

Standout Stats

• 3-0 to Azerbaijan when these 2 last met in a friendly in 2013.
• This is bottom v 2nd bottom in Group H and there is no way these teams are qualifying for the Euros.
• Azerbaijan have 2 2-1 defeats to Italy and Bulgaria, a 6-0 loss to Croatia and a 0-1 loss to Norway.
• Malta lost 2-0 to Croatia, 3-0 to Norway, 0-1 to Italy and drew 1-1 with Bulgaria.

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• The 2013 head to head friendly - is this enough to side with Azerbaijan ? Both sides have struggled in this group . Azerbaijan with 2 2-1's and a 1-0 defeat have been the more competitive in defeat. Malta failed to score in 3 matches.

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17:45 UK Bray v Cork City - 1.4 away

Standout Stats

• 3 consecutive Cork wins ended with a 1-1 last time out in head to heads.
• This is 12th v 4th in the new Irish Premier League season.

Bray

• All 4 defeats saw Bray unable to score. 2 0-1 defeats at home v Drogs and Bohs.

Cork City.

• Winning at home and drawing away from home. 3 consecutive clean sheets now so their last draw was a 0-0

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• if you cannot score, you cannot win. Bray will score at some stage this season, but today? Cork keep drawing away. That is a sequence which will end too. Of course the season is very young indeed so either sit this out, or have faith in the betting market and Bray's poor start ( oppose Bray if they score first )

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19:00 UK Limerick v St Patricks - 1.33 away

Standout Stats

• 2 consecutive Limerick wins to nil in 2014. Tables turned this year judging by the betting market?
• This is 11th v 8th after only 4 matches.

Limerick

• Heavy losses to Bohs and Cork followed by 2 draws v Longford Town and Drogheda.
• Have conceded 3 and 2 in their 2 matches at home.

St Pats.

• St Pats have lost their 2 away matches v Shamrock and Dundalk and won 2 at home v Bray and Derry

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• I don't understand the odds here so early in the season , after Limerick won the last 2 head to heads.
• I can only think that the heavy concessions at home for Limerick are the reason St Pats are so short. A match to leave alone.

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19:45 UK Israel v Wales - 1.91 home

Standout Stats

• Israel v Bale.  It's such a poor Group B that Israel lead it on 9 points after 3 matches, and Wales are 2nd on 8 points after 4 matches. With Belgium under performing this presents an amazing opportunity for these 2.
• Belgium and Israel have only played 3 matches so they do have a slight advantage over Wales as far as potentially 3 extra points goes.

Israel

•  0-2 v Malta, 1-2 v Cyprus, 1-4 v Andorra and 3-0 v Bosnia sees Israel yet to lose.
• Only 1 home match was that win v Bosnia.

Wales

• 1-2 win v Andorra, 0-0 v Bosnia,
• 2-1 v Cyprus and 0-0 v Belgium sees wales unbeaten

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• 2 of the unlikelies in Group B meet tonight with Wales needing the win more than the game-in-hand Israelis. If Belgium win as their odds suggest they will, Wales will be more under pressure.
• Wales have trouble scoring and that might continue this evening. I would have to favour the Israelis tonight and lay Wales if they score first.

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19:45 UK Holland v Turkey - 1.4 home

Standout Stats

• 5 consecutive clean sheets and 2 consecutive 2-0 Dutch wins in the last 5 head to heads.
• The fact that the Czechs and Iceland are above Holland in Group A tells you the Orange men are below par.

Holland

• No draw in 21 Euro qualifiers.
• Holland have lost to Czechs and Iceland , and beaten Kazakhstan and Latvia this campaign. Poor stuff. They woz robbed v Czechs with a 90th minute winner, but still were not in a position to win so only have themselves to blame.
• This match with Turkey will therefore be a nervy affair for the Dutch who must have the better squad by some distance ....surely?
• At home, the dutch are unbeaten in Euro qualifiers all the way back to 1970. They are unbeaten in their last 10 at home.

Turkey

• Turkey are 2 points behind Holland so this becomes a must win
• As with Holland, Turkey lost to Iceland and the Czechs, but only drew away at Latvia and beat Kazakhstan.
• Turkey have scored and conceded in their last 3 euro qualifiers
• No win in 7 consecutive away euro qualifiers must be a concern here.
• 0-0-1-0-0-0- 1 scored in the latest away euro qualifiers, straddling 2011 and 2014

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• Holland's amazing home euro form makes this a good DRT match. Rather like Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian league, we simply expect the dutch not to lose at home, ergo if Turkey score first ( and they have scored in their last 3), we can lay the Turks.

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19:45 UK Andorra v Bosnia - 1.05 away

Standout Stats

• Just a cursory glance here to see how many goals Andorra have tended to concede maximum, remembering that Bosnia had the 2 most lethal strikers in European World Cup qualifiers.
• 2-6-4-5 conceded by Andorra this round and a 2-1 with Wales was a DRT dream. Andorra took the lead, Wales equalised and it was 1-1 until the 81st minute. Nice money to be made there.
• Bosnia have been really poor, with a 1-2 loss to Cyprus, 0-0 with Wales, 1-1 with Belgium ( the highlight) and 3-0 loss to Israel.
• They did beat Liechtenstein 3-0 in a friendly in September 2014 which is a good gauge for tonight.

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• You know the drill usually with 1.05 shots. 3/4+ goals expected and at least a goal before halftime. Bosnia have scored only 2 this campaign but have a chance to get some goals on the board. Remember the world class duo they have up front. LAy the 0-0 halftime score and delay I hope , expecting Bosnia to warm up so we get shorter odds for the lay.

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19:45 UK Belgium v Cyprus - 1.14 home - BANKERS

Standout Stats

• These 2 last met in 1999
• Cyrpus sit 3rd in Group B after 4 matches. Belgium are 4th on 5 points, albeit with only 3 matches played. A win therefore could take Belgium 2nd in the group.

Belgium

• 6-0 v Andorra, 1-1 with Bosnia (relatively poor given Bosnia's poor showing in this group), and a 0-0 with Wales - again equally poor given Wales' tribulations v Andorra.
• Belgium are yet to concede at home.

Cyprus

• No draw yet for Cyprus in 3 2-1 results ( win v Bosnia, losses to Israel and Wales) and a 5-0 win v Andorra.

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• Will Cyprus land a blow today? Belgium are priced to swat them aside this evening, 1.14 indicating the by now habitual goal before halftime and a likelihood for 3/4 goals minimum.
• Belgium have been poor for a team of such talented individuals, but are yet to concede at home. I hope Cyprus score first today so we can back Belgium at enhanced odds.
• Lay the 0-0 halftime score, again it's a case of waiting as long as you can.

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19:45 UK Bulgaria v Italy - 1.83 away

Standout Stats

• A 1-0 Italy win in a 2013 world cup qualifier is the most recent result in head to heads.
• Bulgaria have a new manager tonight.
• This is 4th v 2nd in Group H 4 points plays 10 points.

Bulgaria

• A 1-2 win v Azerbaijan, 0-1 loss to Croatia, 2-1 loss to Norway and 1-1 with Malta puts Bulgaria's struggles into perspective. So what do we make of the apparent big odds for Italy. 1.83 is massive in this context , or does it mask Italian woes?

Italy

• 0-2 v Norway, 2-1 v Azerbaijan, 0-1 v Malta and 1-1 with Croatia sees Italy struggle for goals. When Chiellini scores 2 v Azerbaijan you do get a bit worried when your grizzly central defender gets you out of trouble.

Profitable In-Play Opportunities

• Worrisome odds for Italy perhaps betrays the markets lack of confidence in their forward line, and might mask an injury or 2? Team news therefore important here.
• I would have to go with Italy based on the form, but we do have new manager syndrome for Bulgaria which might see an unexpected surge from them with home advantage.

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