Halifax Town and Chesterfield are both targeting promotion back to the EFL. Joe Rindl has the best bet and score prediction for their National League play-off eliminator.
Halifax Town will hope to start a fairy tale play-off run, while out-of-form Chesterfield will want to surprise the bookies, and keep their chances of returning to the Sky Bet EFL alive.
If you’re not familiar with the format, six teams – from second place to seventh – make up the play-offs in the National League, as opposed to the traditional four in the Football League.
The sides in second and third receive a first-round bye, leaving the teams in fourth to seventh to fight it out to reduce six to four.
Kick-off time: 19:45 BST, Tuesday
TV channel: BT Sport 1
Halifax finished 10 points ahead of Tuesday’s opponents and were just three points off Solihull Moors who advanced directly to the semi-finals.
Confidence will be high amongst Pete Wild’s side. They won three of their final four matches of the National League campaign, the defeat coming against champions Stockport County.
The Shaymen also recorded a 2-0 victory when the two teams locked horns at the Shay in the middle of last month.
Having spent the last five seasons in the National League following their promotion from National League North, it would be some story if they could make it all the way to League Two via a magical play-off run.
Chesterfield, meanwhile, have spent the last four seasons in the National League following their relegation from the fourth tier at the end of 2017-18.
They are in dire form and only just sneaked into the top seven.
Paul Cook’s side lost to Bromley, Stockport and Torquay in the latter stages of the regular season, with their last victory coming a month ago at home to bottom club Dover.
They collected one point from their final four fixtures and are 12/1 outsiders for promotion. Remarkably though, Halifax are longer at 16s.
Halifax may not have the squad depth to go all the way, but I certainly back them to advance past this eliminator.
I feel the 6/4 about HALIFAX TO WIN in normal time is a fair price, especially considering the home side’s far better form.
The Shaymen boasted the National League’s strongest home record, having collected 53 points from their 22 games in front of their own fans.
They haven’t lost at the Shay since February when, while reduced to 10 men, they were edged out by Notts County in a 2-1 FA Trophy loss.
Expect a home win.
Halifax Town v Chesterfield best bets and score prediction
- 1.5pts Halifax to win in 90 minutes at 6/4 (bet365)
Score prediction: Halifax 1-0 Chesterfield (Sky Bet odds: 13/2)
Odds correct 0900 BST (23/05/22)
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
Fast Results
Scores
