New Year's Day League One & Two Tips: Back reliable Robins in 40/1 acca | OneFootball

EFL League One & League Two

Alan is aiming for a big price multi on New Year's Day

Alan Dudman assesses the Sportsbook markets for his Thursday multiples in League One and League Two and his 40/1 acca includes Swindon and goals at Fleetwood...

League One

Lincoln City v Huddersfield, Thursday 15:00: Back The Draw @ 11/5

As usual some wild and unpredictable results over the Christmas fixtures and three contenders look best placed in League One for automatic, and one of those are the hardy Imps from Lincoln.

It's three straight wins now going into New year's Day and considering their superb home record of "goals conceded just 10", breaching the Lincoln defence has not been easy.

Huddersfield themselves are off the back of three straight wins including Christmas victories over Port Vale and Northampton, and crucially for Lee Grant, their first back-to-back clean sheets since the first two matches of the season.

I am finding it hard to split the pair, and the hosts' xG of for and against at 1.3 1.2 indicates potentially a close game, and for that reason, backing the draw at 11/5 in a potential Under 2.5 Goals affair could be the answer.

Port Vale v Blackpool, Thursday 15:00: Back Blackpool @ 9/5

I didn't anticipate Port Vale to be this bad, and while Darren Moore's time at the club through a promotion was a success, life in League One has proved beyond them and the 5-0 Huddersfield loss was the final straw.

With five goals scored at Vale Park all season, the Wembley Of The North hasn't exactly set the pulses racing has it?

Blackpool have really picked up under Ian Evatt and the FA Cup 4-1 victory over Carlisle has ignited a brilliant run of form with four clean sheets in the league in five, four wins and plenty of goals.

A man of potential star class is on-loan Palace wide player Danny Imray - who is earning rave reviews and the players are responding well to Ian Evatt's tactical demands, and they had to stand up too against Rotherham.

It's a fair price at 9/5 to win, which factors in the new manager bounce for the hosts, but Vale barely score at home and win even less.

Mansfield Town v Bradford City, Thursday 15:00: Back Bradford @ 13/10

The maddening Mansfield won both games on Boxing Day and Monday, and a win against Bolton at Bolton was completely unexpected. Likewise the two successes, as previously Nigel Clough's team had lost five out of six straight. They are impossible to try and work out for win purposes.

Therefore I won't be going anywhere near the home price.

Bradford perhaps have drawn too many away, and that might hinder their automatic promotion chances if 2026 charts the same path but Graham Alexander's team are far more consistent and have won three of their last four away league games against Mansfield Town (D1), just one fewer victory than across their prior 24 visits to Field Mill combined between 1951 and 2020.

League Two

Barnet v Crawley Town, Thursday 15:00: Back Crawley @ 4/1

I opposed Barnet at Bristol Rovers thinking Steve Evans might fire up a win for the Gas, alas Barnet engineered just their second win since the end of October and remain a team with faults and inconsistencies.

They've lost five at home at The Hive for starters and priced up at 4/7 is not my idea of fun and they tend to go off far shorter than they should.

Crawley's win production this term on the road is most meagre, although a charitable defence has given up 24 goals in 11 away matches at a worrying xA of 1.60.

However, they showed some fight at Swindon in a 0-1 defeat and they had more possession and shots than the Robins, and they also scored three at Salford (lost 4-3) in late November.

Crawley might be a long shot at 4s here, but have lost just one of their four away Football League games against Barnet (W2 D1), scoring exactly two goals in each of those matches.

Fleetwood Town v Grimsby Town, Thursday 15:00: Back BTTS in first half @ 3/1

I've got warm to the BTTS first half bet of late and as always around 3/1, the price has pulled me in for two teams known for goals.

Fleetwood at home are F21 A16, and Grimsby away are F17 A19 - and quite how the Mariners have dropped down to 15th is a mystery as they are far better than that position.

The Cod Army failed to get on the scoresheet on Monday in a rare 0-0, at Salford and first 0-0 of the season in League Two, so we cannot read too much into that. Grimsby themselves earned a 0-0 on Boxing Day - which was also their first of the season. And those two results show the bonkers nature of form and goals in this tier. Often form is irrelevant.

Gillingham have developed the draw strategem to a fine art, and unbelievably have drawn seven of their last eight matches.

Backers of the draw and also the 1-1 will be severely tempted by the 5/2 draw outright, or the 1-1 Correct Score at 11/2, although the latter is a little short for me in that market.

However, Gillingham have won just once since September 20th, and that was against Bristol Rovers last month in their horror run.

Swindon should be shorter in the betting considering their home form and only lost to MK Dons in a top-of-the-table clash on Boxing Day 1-0, a performance that deserved more. Ian Holloway rued two great scoring chances, and he said his team had been the best on the ball he'd seen for a while.

The hosts have won three of their last four home league games played on New Year's Day (L1), with two of those victories seeing the Robins score exactly five goals and this looks a good price to welcome in 2026.

Recommended bets

Back Lincoln v Huddersfield The Draw @ 11/5 

Back Blackpool to beat Port Vale @ 9/5 

Back Bradford City to beat Mansfield Town @ 13/10 

Back all three League One tips in a multiple in one click here @ 20/1 

Back Crawley Town to beat Barnet @ 4/1 

Back BTTS first half Fleetwood Town v Grimsby Town @ 3/1 

Back Swindon Town to beat Gillingham @ 21/20