2021/22				Overall									Home						Away
				P	W	D	L	F	A	Gdf	Pts	Form	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
	1		Forest Green Rovers	37	20	12	5	66	32	+34	72	WXLX	18	11	3	4	28	14	19	9	9	1	38	18
	2		Exeter City	36	17	13	6	54	35	+19	64	WWOW	18	10	6	2	29	16	18	7	7	4	25	19
	3		Northampton Town	38	18	9	11	45	33	+12	63	LWLW	19	11	3	5	26	14	19	7	6	6	19	19
	4		Bristol Rovers	38	18	9	11	53	42	+11	63	WWWW	19	11	3	5	28	19	19	7	6	6	25	23
	5		Tranmere Rovers	38	18	9	11	44	33	+11	63	XWWL	19	14	1	4	29	13	19	4	8	7	15	20
	6		Newport County	38	17	11	10	62	49	+13	62	LWWW	19	9	6	4	38	24	19	8	5	6	24	25
	7		Swindon Town	38	17	10	11	62	48	+14	61	LWWL	19	7	7	5	30	20	19	10	3	6	32	28
	8		Port Vale	36	16	11	9	55	36	+19	59	WWWL	18	9	5	4	28	15	18	7	6	5	27	21
	9		Sutton United	37	16	10	11	55	43	+12	58	XLLW	19	11	5	3	32	16	18	5	5	8	23	27
	10		Mansfield Town	34	16	8	10	47	40	+7	56	LLWW	18	12	3	3	31	19	16	4	5	7	16	21
	11		Salford City	36	14	11	11	44	33	+11	53	WXOX	17	7	7	3	23	14	19	7	4	8	21	19
	12		Hartlepool United	37	14	9	14	39	48	-9	51	WLOW	18	9	6	3	22	16	19	5	3	11	17	32
	13		Crawley Town	37	13	9	15	47	53	-6	48	WLLL	19	6	6	7	25	27	18	7	3	8	22	26
	14		Walsall	38	12	11	15	41	49	-8	47	XWWX	19	8	5	6	27	24	19	4	6	9	14	25
	15		Bradford City	38	11	13	14	43	47	-4	46	LWWL	19	4	8	7	24	27	19	7	5	7	19	20
	16		Harrogate Town	37	11	11	15	53	58	-5	44	XLLL	18	5	7	6	27	25	19	6	4	9	26	33
	17		Carlisle United	37	11	10	16	33	50	-17	43	WLWW	19	5	7	7	15	21	18	6	3	9	18	29
	18		Leyton Orient	36	8	16	12	46	38	+8	40	WXOX	19	7	5	7	29	17	17	1	11	5	17	21
	19		Rochdale	36	8	16	12	41	49	-8	40	LXOL	17	4	10	3	20	17	19	4	6	9	21	32
	20		Colchester United	38	9	12	17	36	52	-16	39	LLWW	19	4	8	7	19	24	19	5	4	10	17	28
	21		Barrow	37	8	13	16	33	43	-10	37	LWOX	19	3	9	7	18	23	18	5	4	9	15	20
	22		Stevenage	37	7	13	17	33	58	-25	34	LLXL	19	6	6	7	22	27	18	1	7	10	11	31
	23		Oldham Athletic	36	7	10	19	35	56	-21	31	LLLL	17	4	3	10	21	30	19	3	7	9	14	26
	24		Scunthorpe United	38	4	12	22	26	68	-42	24	LLLO	19	3	5	11	13	27	19	1	7	11	13	41

 

 

This is a very interesting fixture, with City pushing for an automatic promotion spot and Vale back on the rise, winning their last three , they have actually only lost one in 13 starts, but were drawing too many games prior to this month. The hosts were a club I looked at in great detail when I did my outright League 2 previews, they didn't make the cut, but were close and I got a good look at them when they hosted Brentford in the FA Cup 3rd round, the Valiants lost 4-1, but played well, considering the 64 league places between the two at the time, but the game didn't help them at all and they suffered their worst run of the season either side of that fixture ( four straight defeats). I think they are a top 4 team at worst and three points tonight would leave them in charge of their own automatic promotion destiny. XP actually places then top of League 2, only two points ahead of 3rd placed City , but nonetheless a 7 point swing over the real table. 

 

I have no real issues with the visitors , beyond the fact that they almost always find a way to shoot themselves in the foot, they have finished 5-4-9-4-9 in the last five seasons and should probably have been promoted on two or three of those occasions. Last season they were 9th, but seemed certain to finish top 7 (playoffs) for virtually all of the campaign, in 19/20 they were top 3 for much of the season which ended early due to COVID with them in 5th. In 18/19 they were top 3 for the first 16 weeks, top 7 for 39/46 rounds, including with two games left and finished 9th. In 17/18 they spent the first half of the season top 3, ended up 4th and lost in the PO final , in 16/17 they were bottom 3 after 14 rounds, played at automatic promotion level from that point on, finished 4th and lost on the Wembley decider ! 

 

You just kind of wait for them to let things slip when it starts to hot up at the business end of the season. They are shorthanded tonight missing a trio of midfielders in Kyle Taylor (scored at the weekend), Timothee Dieng and Nigel Atangana to a combination of injury and suspension. That robs them not just of key players in the holding role, but a goal threat from midfield and I doubt there are many DM around with ten goals like Dieng and he is a HUGE loss, they have lost 2/3 starts when he is absent, the win was at home to a bottom two opponent and the two losses were also at home, now, on the road to a strong opponent, he and his replacement (Atangana ) will be missed. It looks like they are going to either move a CB or SS to the DM role.

 

 

2 units Port Vale -0.5 ball 2.46 asian line.

 

Good luck !