Grimsby Town v Portsmouth Betting Tips

Out of form Grimsby Town host a Portsmouth side who have enjoyed life on the road in recent weeks in one of Saturday’s League Two matches.

Former Solihull Moors manager Marcus Bignot has found the going tough since arriving at Grimsby for his first job in the Football League and has registered just the one win in his new role.

However, The Mariners had been really struggling at home prior to Bignot’s arrival with four defeats on the bounce but the 42-year-old has rectified that somewhat having seen his side draw against Barnet and Carlisle United. Not the best result but certainly an improvement.

Defence is the big concern for The Mariners as they have lost the defensive solidity that helped them win promotion from the National League last year. I am not quite sure what Bignot is doing but, since his arrival, Grimsby have conceded an incredible 11 goals – compare that to the 12 games it took The Mariners to concede 11 prior to Bignot’s appointment. That needs to be sorted and quickly.

Fortunately for Bignot, he does have the services of fellow Midlander Omar Bogle at his service. The Birmingham City academy product is currently the top goalscorer in League Two with 16 goals to his name so Grimsby know that, if they create chances, Bogle will take them.

Portsmouth are currently sitting in fourth place and had been on an impressive four-match unbeaten run containing three wins in recent weeks before losing at home to Stevenage last time out.

Pompey are certainly a goal-scoring side and they have only failed to find the back of the net in three out of 19 League Two matches this season. Conversely, Paul Cook’s team have been a bit shaky at the back in the last few games and are without a clean sheet in three attempts. Having said that, this is likely to just be a blip and they actually have the second best defensive record in the league with just 20 goals conceded so far this campaign.

Going away from their home ground of Fratton Park has certainly been more joyous in recent times with Portsmouth currently undefeated in their last five matches on the road in League Two (winning three of them) as opposed to the three defeats in their last four games on home soil.

Given the fact that matches involving these two sides generally have plenty of goals then I think that is the most obvious market to look at here. With this in mind, I would certainly go for ‘Over 2.5 Goals’, whilst I also think ‘Both Teams to Score’ is worth having a look at. As previously mentioned, Grimsby have a goalscorer in Bogle who can cause problems for any defence and will fancy his chances against a Portsmouth side who have not kept a clean sheet in their last three matches whilst Grimsby themselves have problems at the back and are liable to concede on Saturday.

Even a 2-1 victory for either side, which would be very low-scoring given the circumstances, would see you net two winners here.

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