The Cards Column: Tangerine Tension

After a long international break, Matt Kirby returns with The Cards Column with all your referee data and appointments for this weekend’s EFL action.

Matt has picked out his three favourite angles for Saturday’s football with a pick from the Championship, League One and League Two.

• Crewe vs Port Vale: 40+ booking points
• Cardiff vs Sheffield Wednesday: Callum Chambers To Be Booked
• Blackpool vs Bolton: 50+ booking points

Referee Appointments in the Championship, League One and Two: Scott to the seaside

The Championship returns on Friday night when promotion hopefuls Sheffield Utd host play-off chasing Coventry. Oli Langford will oversee that one. With no Premier League games, Select Group 1 refs Darren Bond and Tony Harrington are also in the second tier with Bond at the MKM Stadium and Harrington at the Bet365.

In League One, there’s a tasty Lancashire derby for Graham Scott when Blackpool welcome Bolton to the seaside. While in League Two, Martin Coy has the A500 derby between promotion-chasing pair Crewe and Port Vale. 

There’s also a game for Charles Breakspear, who is averaging seven cards per game when he takes charge of Colchester v Grimsby. There’s a return from injury for Neil Hair, as Bradford go to Accrington. 

As you know by now, for the full data charts + FA Cup refs, check out Matt’s X timeline – @m_kirby95. 

Crewe vs Port Vale: Local rivals to do battle

England, League Two, Saturday, March 29th, 12:30 (UK)

Port Vale’s automatic promotion hopes took a minor blow on Tuesday when they fell to a 1-0 home defeat to Barrow – despite hitting the woodwork four times! If we ignore that game having zero cards, the Valiants trip to Crewe is likely to be a nervy and tense affair.

The Railwaymen lost the play-off final last season and are aiming to sneak into the top seven as they continue to punch above their weight. 

There’s plenty to play for in this game, as well as a few bragging rights with just 13.4 miles from Vale Park to Gresty Road. That short drive has earned it the nickname of the A500 derby, and recent meetings have been tetchy.

In the reverse fixture, the points were shared in a 1-1 draw in front of the Sky cameras. That game finished with 65 booking points shown (55 to Port Vale) after Rekeem Harper was sent off for a second yellow in the 49th minute.

Despite the Valiants being in League One last season, these two still met in the League Cup and EFL Trophy.

The first of those matches produced 80 booking points (40 each), with the follow-up in the EFL Trophy seeing 75 with Alex having Ryan Cooney dismissed last on. 

So, that’s totals of 80, 75 and 65 in their last three head-to-heads, with the last two seeing a player given their marching orders. That can only lead me to take booking points and a red card if temperatures rise.

I will issue a couple of warnings about the referee Martin Coy though. He’s only hit the 40+ booking points mark in 37% of his matches – remarkably low considering some of his colleagues. Plus, only once has he reached for his red card across 23 matches in all comps. 

Although Coy hit the mark in Crewe’s trip to Barrow back in August, brandishing five yellows. While his recent Championship trial game saw him book seven players as Coventry beat Watford. So, he can be alright on his day!

What’s encouraging is that only six sides have seen more yellows in League Two than Lee Bell’s charges, which shows their yellow card accumulation across the campaign. 

Meanwhile, the rabble, I mean Port Vale’s recent away games have seen 65, 40, 85, 10 and 40 booking points. Four of those have hit the 40+ mark and two of them also produced a red card. Perfect news for backers of a dismissal here!

• Selection: 40+ booking points (TRACKED BET) & A player to be sent off
• Best Odds: 1.80 & 5.00
• Bookmaker: Sky Bet
• Stake: 10/10 & 5/10

Calum Chambers To Be Booked: Another One on home turf?

England, Championship, Saturday, March 29th, 15:00 (UK)

Let’s step up into the Championship for this week’s player pick, where it’s a visit to Wales for Cardiff’s clash with Sheffield Wednesday.

The Owls are six points off the play-offs, so still have an outside chance, and they’ve been better on the road this season. However, Cardiff are hovering dangerously above the drop, so are getting into must-win-territory. 

This might not look like an appealing game on paper for a neutral, but some battles on the pitch could appeal from a bookings perspective.

Calum Chambers has been utilised as a holding midfielder in recent weeks by Omer Riza. That’s slightly uncharted water for Chambers, who was naturally a defender, and it’s resulted in him picking up eight yellows. He’s also joint-16th for fouls committed in the second tier.

This move further forward has seen him heavily involved with high tackle and foul counts. He’s given away at least one foul in 10 of his last 12 games, including five at Middlesbrough, three at Leeds and three more at home to Luton.

Chambers has seen yellows in two of his last three, while from his overall total of eighth, four of them have been on home turf. 

What also furthers the case for Chambers is that this Wednesday side contains Djeidi Gassama and Shea Charles – two of the league’s most-fouled players. That makes it hard not to focus on a player in a blue shirt. 

Sam Allison is the man in the middle for this one. He’s taken charge of three Owls games already, showing 14 yellows and a red. Plus, his sole Cardiff outing saw him book three players in blue, including our man Chambers.

With Cardiff in the battle to survive, they’ll have to scrap for second balls and that could see Chambers caught out with a potential lack of pace. At 4.5 with bet365, he’s the one for me! 

• Selection: Calum Chambers to be booked
• Best Odds: 4.5
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stake: 5/10

Blackpool vs Bolton: The battle of Bloomfield Road

England, League One, Saturday, March 29th, 15:00 (UK)

I’ll complete the set by taking in the League One meeting between Blackpool and Bolton for this week’s final pick.

Bolton are hard to ignore as they average more cautions per away game than any other side in the third tier (2.9). That could well come to the fore in this trip to the seaside, with Wanderers sitting just a point outside the play-offs.

Steven Schumacher’s side went five unbeaten before back-to-back defeats hampered their hopes just before the international break. But they’ll fancy their chances with Blackpool preparing for their summer holidays, as they’re probably a bit too far back from the top six.

I’ve set the stall out with Bolton cards. In total, 78% of their league matches have seen 50+ booking points, and that’s the angle for me here at 1.91. It’s paid out 29 times across their League One matches, including in 13 of 18 away. 

But what makes me so interested in this bet is the reverse fixture. Tensions were high when the sides met in November – that game saw 100 booking points (50 each), and I just think we could get something similar once more. 

Not only did this land in this season’s meeting. But last term, their two league encounters saw 60 and 65 booking points, with Bolton’s Ricardo Santos seeing red at Bloomfield Road. It’s always favourable to have positive head-to-head numbers in our favour!

And what furthers the interest is that Wanderers are the most-fouled side in the division (13.7), with Blackpool coming in seventh, winning 12.2 fouls per 90. That could see Graham Scott in the thick of the action.

The veteran whistler returned to action in Charlton v Wigan the other week. That game started well with two first-half cards for the Latics, but they dried up after that. However, Scott hit 50+ booking points in 10 of his 22 matches in all competitions last season, which is fairly encouraging.

If there’s still some bad blood lingering from their previous meeting this season, let’s hope it shows on Saturday afternoon!

• Selection: 50+ booking points (TRACKED BET)
• Best Odds: 1.91
• Bookmaker: Sky Bet
• Stake: 7/10

Safer Gambling

At bettingexpert, we always take a safe approach to gambling. We’ll never bet more th3A249YFn we can afford or chase losses. For more advice, head to our Safer Gambling hub.