The Football League play-offs continue on Saturday with two huge matches as in League One Huddersfield Town look to secure a positive result at MK Dons, while in League Two Southend United aim to do the same at Crewe Alexandra.
Simon Grayson takes his Terriers to Stadium MK in a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday for a game which will bring together two sides who were separated by just one place and one point in the final league table.
The fact Huddersfield took forth spot means they will have home advantage in the second leg, so the emphasis is on picking up a result to take back to West Yorkshire on Tuesday.
Huddersfield are no strangers to the end-of-season lottery, having won promotion via this route in 1995 and 2004 respectively, while this is their third successive attempt to reach the Championship.
They travel south in good form against MK Dons having not lost to them in seven matches stretching back to August 2008, with six wins and two draws from their 12 League One encounters.
Grayson, who has pedigree in the play-offs having been a winner as a player with Leicester in 1994 and 1996, and then took Blackpool up to the Championship in 2007, will have the League One’s prolific top scorer Jordan Rhodes (15/2 – 2 Or More Match Goalscorer) back in the side after he was rested for the final two matches.
Lee Novak or Kallum Higginbotham will miss out, while fellow striker Alan Lee is back in contention after shaking off a knee injury.
MK Dons boss Karl Robinson is looking to lead the club to the Championship for the first time since the change from Wimbledon back in 2004.
His side were looking set to go into the play-offs on a real high, but a final-day defeat against Walsall scuppered their hopes of making it five successive wins.
The Dons are also in their second successive play-off bid and have lost all three they have been involved in so far at the semi-final stage, so the omens are not good.
Defender Gary MacKenzie could be back following an illness, while Alan Smith (10/1 – First Goalscorer), who is on loan from Newcastle, is set to retain his place behind a front two of Dean Bowditch and Charlie MacDonald.
Nothing could divide the sides in the two regular season fixtures as they both ended 1-1, but Huddersfield may have the slight edge and take a slender lead back home for the second leg.
Prediction: Huddersfield Away 90 Minutes @ 23/10.
Value Bet: Huddersfield To Win 2-1 Correct Score @ 11/1.
League Two
Southend United must pick themselves up at Gresty Road in the 5.30pm kick-off after narrowly missing out on automatic promotion last Saturday when Crawley Town snatched third place by just a point.
The Shrimpers finished three places and 11 points better off than rivals Crewe, while their final day 2-0 win against Macclesfield at Roots Hall meant they ended the campaign on a great run of four wins, a draw and five successive clean sheets.
They also have history on their side with 13 promotions via the play-offs which makes them the most successful side to be promoted via this route.
Boss Paul Sturrock has a near fully-fit squad to choose from, so will head north optimistic that his players can take their good run of form into the match.
Crewe will be no pushovers, though, as they ended the regular season on the back of a 16-match unbeaten run – seven wins and nine draws – which was enough to snatch the seventh and final play-off spot.
Ironically Alex’s last defeat was against Saturday’s opponent’s Southend as the versatile Bilel Mohsni (10/1 – 2 or More Match Goalscorer) scored the only goal at Roots Hall on February 18 to add to the brace he scored in the Shrimpers’ 3-1 win at Gresty Road in October.
Boss Steve Davis‘ hopes of gaining revenge for being doubled in the season will not be helped if skipper Dave Artell does not shake off a foot injury suffered in training.
But Ashley Westwood has not suffered any setbacks to his foot injury and is in line to feature as Crewe aim to improve on just one successful promotion in five previous attempts in the play-offs.
However, looking at the statistics, Southend were unfortunate to go up automatically and coupled with their excellent run of form, they should have too much for Crewe and come out on top in this one.
Prediction: Southend Away 90 Minutes @ 7/4.
Value Bet: Southend To Win 2-0 Correct Score @ 12/1.
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