The secret behind this 93% Scottish trend...
Wednesday 19th December 2018
In your Across the Leagues email today:
- Home advantage...
- Synthetic pitches = low Corners...
- The Top 3...
Home advantage...
I’m taking a special look at the Scottish Premiership stats today. In particular, the Home records of Hamilton, Livingston and Kilmarnock...
These three clubs share one defining ‘Home’ characteristic: they all play on artificial pitches.
Scottish football’s synthetic pitches have been a controversial topic for some time. Back in 2013, a survey of 700 Scottish footballers found that 73% of players said they would rather play on a ‘deteriorating grass pitch’ than a plastic one.
In August this year, after his player Jamie Murphy suffered a knee injury at Kilmarnock, Rangers manager Steven Gerrard said: “My opinion is elite football shouldn’t have any plastic pitches.”
Last season, players voted Hamilton’s artificial pitch the worst in Scotland, out of all 42 league clubs, with an average score of just 1.18 out of 5. Hamilton laid a new artificial surface over the summer.
Kilmarnock came second-last in that survey, with a score of 1.70 out of 5.
Livingston were promoted to the Scottish Premiership this season; they installed a synthetic pitch in June. Despite complaints over rubber pellets from the new surface being thrown up during play, Livingston manager Gary Holt is more than happy with the plastic playing field. He believes it gives his team an edge: “We are quite happy if people hammer it ... It’s a massive advantage for us. We train on it every day and we love it.”
So, does having a synthetic pitch give any discernible advantage to the Home side?
Things aren’t going too well for Hamilton, who sit 9th in the table, with a Home record of: W2 D0 L6.
But...
Kilmarnock are in the title race. The Old Firm have games in hand, but right now Killie are 2nd in the league, sandwiched between the big two of Rangers and Celtic. Kilmarnock’s Home record is: W6 D1 L2.
Livingston beat 10-man Hearts 5-0 last week. They sit 6th in the 12-club Scottish Premiership table. With an impressive Home record that reads: W7 D2 L1.
Synthetic pitches = low Corners...
Where things get really interesting – from our stats viewpoint – is when we look at the Total Corners figures being recorded at New Douglas Park, Rugby Park and the Tony Macaroni Arena this season...
Total Corners – Home averages:
Hamilton 7.2 per game
Kilmarnock 7.4
Livingston 7.3
The Total Corners figures at those three stadiums are all well below the division average of 9.4 corners per game.
And when it comes to the betting...
Here’s how the top of the Scottish Premiership Under 10.5 Corners table looks on our website right now:
The Top 3...
The teams with plastic pitches are the Top 3 for Under 10.5 Corners bets...
Those Home figures are eye-catching. Between them, Hamilton, Kilmarnock & Livingston have produced a total of 25 payouts from 27 games (93%).
I’m not going to claim to know precisely why this is the case. I’d hazard a guess that one factor could be the length of the artificial grass slowing down the roll of the ball – compared to the shorter cut of the real green stuff.
Whatever the reason, one thing is clear: the grounds with synthetic pitches are producing more Under 10.5 Corners payouts than anywhere else. Not just in the Scottish Premiership, but across all the leagues covered on our website. And that’s a fact well worth knowing.
Christmas is coming...
Hamilton play Kilmarnock on Saturday. That game will be on the radar for our weekend picks, once the markets are up.
I’ll be back on Friday with the top stats match-ups for the weekend. As well as the Scottish Premiership, there’s a full schedule in the Premier League and Football League, too. And the games continue throughout the festive period...
See you on Friday...
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone
Across the Leagues |
