A potentially pivotal showdown in the Scottish Championship title race takes place at Dens Park on Tuesday night as Dundee do battle with Ayr United.
Although Gary Bowyer's side sit in second spot with eight rounds of fixtures left to play, their automatic promotion hopes appear to be hanging by the slimmest of threads right now.
Dundee's goalless draw at Partick Thistle on Saturday coupled with Queen's Park's 2-1 win over Inverness means the Dark Blues now trail the Spiders by seven points.
While it's not a case of win or bust for Dundee on Tuesday night, they can ill afford to drop any more points when Ayr United come to town
After hitting a bit of a sticky patch last month, Lee Bullen's men have banked maximum points in recent road games at both Greenock Morton and Hamilton Academical.
As such, the Honest remain in the Championship title hunt, and a third league win away from home in succession this midweek would see them leapfrog their opponents in the standings.
Outright Betting
Dundee, who have failed to win each of their last two Scottish Championship home matches, head into this game as 17/20 (William Hill) favourites.
Despite doing the majority of their best work away from home this season, Ayr United make the trip to Dens Park as 16/5 (Boylesports) underdogs while the draw is also deemed unlikely at 13/5 (Bet 365).
Betting Angles
I'm hopeful that an enjoyable encounter could be in the offing in the City of Discovery with Both Teams to Score holding appeal at 4/5 with Bet 365.
While Dundee boast the best defensive record in the division, they could struggle to shut out an Ayr side that have only been outscored by table-topping Queen's Park to date.
Lee Bullen's guests have slammed in 52 goals in 28 league outings this season so far, with 29 of those strikes coming away from Somerset Park, so they are certainly capable of carving out scoring opportunities against a Dundee side that have been hot and cold at best under Gary Bowyer's guidance.
That being said, Ayr have demonstrated a fairly regular inability to keep the back door shut in recent times, with the visitors registering just two clean sheets across their last eight matches in all competitions.
With a talented squad at their disposal, Dundee should have the tools to unlock the Honest Men's defence too, and that in turn makes the 4/5 (Bet 365) on both teams to score a tempting play.
This bet would have paid out in three of Ayr United's last four matches, not to mention the same wager would have yielded profit from two of the previous three meetings between the pair this season, one of which was at this venue.
Elsewhere, I’ll also dip into McBookie's Tartan Top Ups and take a punt on Dipo Akinyemi to open the scoring at 9/1 (McBookie).
The powerful striker, who is spearheading Ayr United's promotion push, is the Scottish Championship's runaway top scorer, so he looks worth a samll investment to grab the opener here at a bold price.
This Scottish Championship match between Dundee and Ayr United will be played on Mar 21, 2023 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Dundee vs Ayr United prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
