Morecambe vs Halifax Predictions

As the longest serving manager in English football, having taken over in May 2011, Jim Bentley will have seen it all during his time in charge of Morecambe. This weekend he sets off on yet another journey in the FA Cup with Halifax Town the visitors in the first round, and with neither side in particularly good form, both are in desperate need of a win in order spark some life into their league campaign.

Morecambe are keen to avoid any feelings of complacency in their meeting with the side from the National League, and given the cash strapped club would be rewarded with £36,000 prize money if they are to claim the win and get a place in the second round, there is plenty of hope for a positive result. However, Morecambe have plenty of troubles of their own as only three teams in their division have scored fewer goals than Morecambe and they have lost more home league matches than any other side in League Two.

In contrast, the Shaymen make the journey following a 2-1 defeat by Havant and Waterlooville, a result which left them 16th in the table and without a league victory in their last 12 matches. Other than Halifax’s 2-0 win in the FA Cup qualifying round, they have not managed a single victory since the August Bank Holiday. Unfortunately for the Shaymen, they are even worse when on their travels and they have now gone 10 straight matches without a win on the road, all of which makes it seem unlikely we are in for an upset this weekend.

With neither side particularly in form at the moment, it is hard to see how they will serve up an afternoon of free-flowing attacking football. Given that neither side are particularly known as being high scorers, we think that backing there to be less than 2.5 goals represents the best opportunity of a decent return.