The job of this column is to find value no matter where it hides or resides. If it is in the Premier League, where it has to be said the hyperbolic glare makes it hard for any price not to be scrutinized, all the better. But sometimes we have to delve into the lower echelons to mark your card.
It is true that this can be, at times, like shooting rats in a barrel. There is not the analysis available on teams or players in the lower leagues. There simply isn’t the interest from the masses. Bettors, though, dismiss it at their peril.
And a couple of wagers have announced themselves this week in League One. Two teams who are heading in opposite directions and who happened to play each other on Tuesday night.
Blackburn Rovers enjoyed a comfortable 4-2 victory at Oxford United. Now, it would be wrong to say that this was a watershed victory for Rovers, or even one for Oxford in terms of their prognosis. The seeds have been sown previously.
Blackburn are beginning to motor and what they displayed at Oxford was the sort of physical power and ruthlessness which will surely seem them promoted. They were 3-0 up inside 20 minutes.
Oxford have problems. But we’ll get to them. We don’t want to detract from Blackburn’s promotion charge, one which we advise you to be on at 2.2 with Stan James.
They had a slow start, perhaps hampered by the expectation that comes with one of the biggest playing budgets in the league. So their upturn in form is notable. It’s now no defeats since the middle of October and with a home game against a Bristol Rovers team who are beginning to labour coming up, they should soon be in the top three. They might not look back.
Oxford also had aspirations of advancing. When the sides met the winner would bust the top six. They are the opposite of Blackburn, though, and despite looking reasonably well-placed in eighth they are a club in crisis. But you won’t read about it anywhere.
First, there is their form. Aside from a 4-0 away win at ten-man Plymouth, who have a League Two budget, Pep Clotet’s team have one win in their last eight in all competitions. In the league, they have lost three of their last four. This having started brightly with consecutive wins.
The reason is down to an aging squad. Their close-season recruitment was, to the outsider, bizarre. They picked up never-will-bes from obscure European leagues and has-beens. Dwight Tinedalli, a fullback, for example, who hadn’t played for two years.
Oxford are beginning to break down. Their captain, and best player, Curtis Nelson is out for the season with an Achilles injury. Their first-choice right-back, Christian Ribeiro has retired this week due to injury.
There is a slim chance they will recruit well in January with the current owner desperate to sell to Asian investors who, judging by their record at Championship club Reading, do not have the required cash to splash. Talks seem to have stalled and the impasse explains their summer window work.
In short, Oxford are an outstanding bet at 19 (10Bet) to be relegated. They should be half the price.
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