(expired)Non-league football: Blue Square Bet Premier League – In-depth weekend betting preview 9-10 Oct 2010

Crawley Town’s fantastic comeback at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night has strengthened their position as favourites to lift the Blue Square Bet Premier title. The Red Devils are 5/4 favourites to win the division with their beaten hosts from Tuesday, Luton Town, drifting to the biggest price they have been this season – 11/4. Maybe Blue Square’s odds-compilers should have listened to Hatters boss Richard Money who said before the game that the visitors should have been the match favourites.

The market disagreed, but those who went against it collected after the away side’s last-minute winner. Luton now have an extended break to get over their midweek disappointment while Crawley make the long trip up to Barrow for their next game. Steve Evans’ team are the 8/13 favourites to win at Holker Street against a Barrow team that did the double over them last season.

It’s a reduced ‘Saturday 3pm’ fixture list due to Premier Sports’ treble-header of live matches but it’s not lacking in quality. AFC Wimbledon’s trip to Wrexham is a particular highlight. The Wombles are the slight outsiders at 13/8 off the back of a fantastic win at Mansfield in which they put five past the hapless Stags. Prior to that game, Wimbledon had lost their last two away matches, taking their total defeats in that column to three – all coming without a goal scored. Wrexham’s defence will relish that test and I’d be tempted to back the Welsh side to achieve a narrow victory at 11/8. A correct-score of a 1-0 home win is also tempting at 6/1.

This weekend York City aim to become the first side to beat Newport County at their Spytty Park home since the 18^th March 2009. It’s a tough task for the managerless and shot-shy Minstermen, who Blue Square price at a stand-out 10/3 to end the Exiles’ run. Eastbourne Borough had the chance to do that in midweek against ten men but needed a late equaliser to take a point from South Wales.

It’s another trip West for Borough on Saturday as they travel to Bath City, who were incidentally the victors back on 18th March 2009 in South Wales. The Romans have only been beaten once at home in the opening exchanges of this season and rate as the 6/5 favourites to win this match against the Sussex side who have the worst travelling defence in the country – an average of three goals per game conceded.

Bottom club Altrincham visit Histon who are two  places and five points better off than them in the table. This is a genuine early-season relegation six-pointer, and Histon are slight favourites to come out on top at 6/5. The Stutes have three victories this season from three matches against their fellow sides in the bottom eight.

Kettering Town look to be turning the corner after appointing a new manager and we’re swerving them at 9/5 to win at Southport this weekend. The home side have only won once in nine matches and the Poppies look a good bet to extend that to one in ten.

Darlington are struggling to find the net and consequently are struggling to get points on the board in their quest for immediate promotion back to the Football League. They will no doubt be popular in weekend accumulators at 8/13 to beat Hayes & Yeading United, but the Middlesex club have already returned unbeaten from trips to Grimsby and Luton.

Tamworth enjoyed a good run at the start of the season but have stuttered in recent weeks – with no wins in their last five games. They are the 15/8 outsiders to win on a tricky outing at Gateshead where only Fleetwood Town have plundered all three points. The Heed have only lost two of their last eight fixtures and have a decent return of 19 points from their first 14 matches as a full-time outfit.

On Sunday, Kidderminster Harriers host Grimsby Town where the home side are 5/4 favourites to make it 3 home wins on the bounce against a Mariners side who are unbeaten in 5 games. A third away win of the season for Grimsby is a 9/5 shot here.

ALAN’S BEST WEEKEND TREBLE including the live matches:

Newport County (to beat York City)

Kettering Town (to beat Southport)

Fleetwood Town (to beat Cambridge United)

A £10 treble returns £83.30 at the current Blue Square prices.