Grimsby Town vs Braintree Town Betting Tips & Predictions

As the only former Football League side in playoffs fans will rightly look at Grimsby Town and expect them to go on and win it. Dig a little deeper though and you will soon realise it is an uphill task for the Mariners. In his blog for Betway, Alan Agar points out that no side has ever won the playoffs from lower than ninth in the 10 game form table during the last 13 seasons of playoff football. Fellow playoff contenders Forest Green Rovers currently sit 15th with Grimsby a place below. Agar goes on to point out that out of the 56 playoff semi-finalists since 2002/3, Paul Hurst’s men go into the playoffs with the worst form of any team to make the divisions top five.

The story for Braintree couldn’t be more different. The part timers have never played in the Football League and despite the roots of their club going back 118 years, they have only existed in their present guise since 1981. Manager Danny Cowley is assisted by his brother Nicky and the pair combine coaching a side with promotion aspirations with teaching Physical Education to students at FitzWimarc School in Rayleigh. Even if we look away from the stature of the clubs, the form book is also heavily in their favour. Many people say the playoffs is about timing your run so you hit your best form at the right time and after four wins in a row it looks as though Braintree may have done just that.

Typically speaking the playoffs tend to be tight nervous affairs, so the advantage may just be with the away sides as they finished the regular campaign with one of the best defences in the league. Grimsby do have an ace in the whole though. Striker Padraig Amond has 32 goals this season and I think it may be his form that may prove the difference between the two sides. There will not be much between the two teams but I think home advantage will be enough to see Grimsby take a lead into the second leg.