Sports Blog 12/05/2016: League One Preview – Play-Off Semi-Final 1st Legs, Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th May 2016

With the Premier League effectively wrapped up, attention turns this weekend to the play-offs, including those League One sides battling for a place alongside Wigan and Burton in the Championship!

First up on Saturday is a trip to Barnsley for Walsall at 5.30pm on Sky Sports 1. Walsall will be ruing their winless run in February, the side needing just 1 more point to take the 2nd automatic promotion spot off of Burton Albion thanks to a superior goal difference. Instead the Saddlers are now forced to go through the play-offs if they want to reach the Championship for the first time since they were relegated from Division One in 2004.



If Walsall were unlucky not to nab automatic promotion, then Barnsley are fortunate to even be in the running for a spot in the Championship. The Tykes spent the run-in neck and neck with Scunthorpe for the final play-off place, both sides recovering from a woeful first half of the season (between 3rd October and 14th November Barnsley lost 8 league games in a row). Barnsley managed to edge ahead on goal difference, their final day 4-1 win over champions Wigan setting up their semi-final against the Saddlers.

Despite the 10 point gap separating the sides by the end of the season, the Tykes have been far more consistent since the New Year began, leading Spreadex to offer a Barnsley/Walsall Goal Supremacy spread of 0.15-0.35 with a Total Goals spread of 2.4-2.6.

Sunday then sees Bradford and Millwall face off at 12.15pm on Sky Sports 1. Somewhat like Barnsley Bradford managed to overcome both a disappointing start to the season (10 points from 10 games) and a Christmas period wobble (11 points in 10 games between the end of November and start of Christmas) to reach the play-offs, with only 2 losses and 3 draws in their final 17 games. It’s a sign of the steady successes Phil Parkinson has had since he joined the club at the end of August 2011, taking Bradford to League One in his first full season before gradually improving their placing, from 11th to an unlucky 7th to this year’s 5th.



It would cap off a remarkable run for Parkinson and Bradford to achieve promotion, though standing in their way is a Millwall side hoping to bounce back to the Championship in the first time of asking. The Lions will likely feel aggrieved that they couldn’t manage an automatic spot, missing out largely thanks to a weak start to the season and a string of losses in December. However they are still well-positioned to jump up a league, with Spreadex having them and Walsall as joint favourites on the Play-Off Index at a spread of 9-10.5 each.

Yet Bradford’s strong end to the season, including a win over Millwall at the end of March, has given them the edge, Spreadex offering a Bradford/Millwall Goal Supremacy spread of 0-0.5-0.25 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.15-2.35.

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