The Cards Column Tips: Leagues 1 and 2 Takes Centre Stage

Not another international break?! There might be a depleted fixture list in the EFL, but Matt Kirby is on hand to guide us through the referees and markets to watch in League 1 and 2 this weekend.

Matt has picked out a couple of his favourite bets. Plus, you can find the usual ref appts and data charts on his Twitter, along with the Nations League referee appts. Give him a follow on @m_kirby95 for more insight.

• Salford vs Grimsby: 50+ booking points
• Chesterfield vs Notts County: Jacob Bedeau To Be Booked

Referee Appointments in the League One and Two: Corlett gets the TV gig

Notts County make the short trip to Chesterfield on Saturday lunchtime where Matt Corlett will keep an eye on proceedings, as will the Sky cameras. The pair of League 1 games will be handled by Ruebyn Ricardo and Elliot Bell.

Elsewhere, Dale Baines has Cheltenham v Swindon – he’s yet to show 4+ cards in any of his three league games this season. In fact, the relation of Leighton, has only shown five yellows across those games. Sunny Gill takes charge of Bradford’s trip to Tranmere.

Salford vs Grimsby: There’s Miles in the booking points markets

England, League Two, Saturday, October 12th, 15:00 (UK)

There are limited markets this weekend with only usually Sky Bet and maybe William Hill pricing up these games.

I’ll start with a simple booking points market offering, when Salford welcome Grimsby to the Peninsula Stadium.

When you look at the yellow cards already collected in the fourth tier, these two rank first and joint-second, with Salford (31) and Grimsby (28).

On that evidence alone, it’s hard to turn down a cards bet, especially the 50+ booking points line at 1.83 with Sky Bet. Remember, it’s 10 for a yellow, 25 for a straight red and 35 for a red following a second yellow.

Their team averages combine to 6.2 yellows per game, which should equate to 62 booking points if doing it so literally. But that’s a good foundation to use as a starting point for building the case for this angle.

Salford’s last two home games have seen 50 and 80 booking points. Their latest saw a 40 each split against AFC Wimbledon last weekend. Plus, the Ammies’ away games have also provided some mental numbers – 60, 115, 100 & 50 – showing their tends to be cards in their games.

Last weekend, Grimsby collected 55 booking points in the first half in their home defeat to Doncaster. That takes it to seven of their 10 league games to have seen 50+ booking points, including 95 in their visit to Chesfield and 70 at Gillingham in their last away game – in that latter figure, they picked up 60 of those!

I think those numbers are strong enough, while we’ve got a solid card-issuing referee in Jacob Miles. He’s averaging five cards per game this season, having shown 4+ in four of his five league games.

But most importantly are his booking points totals for our way in. Miles has shown 50, 60, 60, 30 & 50 booking points across those games. Once again, that’s a four in five (80%) strike rate. Plus, he also did a National League game last month that also saw 50 booking points.

What’s more, the referee’s final game of last season was Salford’s 2-1 home defeat to Bradford, which saw him show 60 booking points – 30 to each side. While his sole Grimsby game last term was in the FA Cup. He managed to book three Mariners players in an empathic 7-2 win over Slough.

The referee is averaging 26.8 fouls per game, which is quite high, plus he’s brandished plenty of cards. Both sides rank in the top half of the foul charts as well, with David Artell’s men coming in fifth at 12.8.

When you see a combustible figure like Karl Robinson on the touchline that can translate into some of his players’ behaviour. So, with two sides ranking highly for yellow cards, the 50+ booking points looks the way into this.

• Selection: 50+ booking points (TRACKED BET)
• Best Odds: 1.83
• Bookmaker: Sky Bet
• Stake: 10/10

Jacob Bedeau To Be Booked: Corlett’s cautioning nearly everyone

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

With the TV cameras heading to Chesterfield v Notts County, we’ve got a couple of player card markets available to try and crack.

After their bright start, Notts County have slipped to fifth after just one win in four following last weekend’s home defeat to Port Vale. Meanwhile, Chesterfield are unbeaten in four, scoring plenty of goals.

I’m going to start with the referee for this one, Matt Corlett. He’s dished out 31 cards in four league games, a whopping average of 7.8 per game. That includes doing two games in three days the other weekend, brandishing six yellows in Colchester v Tranmere, then showing 10 more in Fleetwood v Morecambe.

The latter of those games was something of a north west derby and these two sides here are only separated by just under 30 miles on the M1. So, my feeling is this could be quite tasty with a fair few yellows shown.

With Stuart Maynard likely to stick with his three at the back, I’d be looking towards Jacob Bedeau to be booked. He’s likely to be the Magpies’ right centre-back and has been cautioned in three of his 10 League Two appearances.

The 24-year-old has committed at least one foul in eight of his last nine, plus he’s conceded multiple free-kicks in a couple of those as well.

James Berry could be the one to give Bedeau a few headaches. The midfielder has five goals in 10 league apps. Going forward, he’s averaging 1.3 dribbles per game alongside being fouled 1.1 times per 90 showing he’s one of the hosts key threats.

Just looking through Chesterfield games over the last month, you’ll see Doncaster’s CB pair Jay McGrath (booked) and Tom Anderson (sent-off) found themselves in trouble against the Spireites. As did Cheltenham’s RCB Sam Stubbs (booked).

That’s a few centre-backs, which gives more credence to going with Notts County’s RCB. Plus, teams facing Chesterfield do rack up cards too – Grimsby (4) and Port Vale (6) were both troubled by this Spireites attack.

A player with three in 10 – no, this isn’t Popmaster – and a trigger-happy referee to reach for his pocket, I don’t mind the 4.33 on Bet365 for Bedeau to be booked.

• Selection: Jacob Bedeau to be booked
• Best Odds: 4.33
• Bookmaker: Bet365
• Stake: 5/10

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