FIRST meets second in the Scottish Championship on Friday night, as Queen’s Park play host to Ayr United.
Owen Coyle’s side have been one of the surprise packages in the second tier this term, with Scotland’s oldest club setting the pace after 22 rounds of fixtures.
That being said, the Spiders' title challenge suffered a dent in a 3-0 drubbing at fellow promotion hopefuls Dundee last weekend.
However, Queen's Park rebounded at the first time of asking in midweek after earning a 2-0 win at Inverness in the Scottish Cup.
As for Ayr United, they also had domestic cup matters to contend with on Tuesday night, as they cruised to a 3-0 win at Cove Rangers.
That triumph followed a thumping 5-0 win over the Aberdeenshire outfit last Saturday, meaning that another away success here would propel Lee Bullen’s side back to the summit of the standings, at least temporarily.
Outright Betting
Despite falling to defeat in each of their previous two meetings with Ayr United this season, Queen’s Park head into this Friday night fixture as 5/4 (William Hill) favourites.
Ayr United, who have lost just once across their last five Scottish Championship road matches, arrive at Ochilview as 19/10 (Bet 365) outsiders while a point apiece pays out at 13/5 (Bet 365).
Betting Angles
Goals are usually on the agenda when either of these two teams are involved and there is plenty of scope for a repeat here with Over 2.75 Goals looking worthy of investment at 5/6 (Bet 365).
Siding with this selection means that a half-stakes profit is banked if exactly three goals are scored with a full winner paid-out if the game generates four or more strikes.
This fixture will see the Scottish Championship’s top-two scoring sides going up against each other, with Queen's Park having struck 44 times this term thus far, while Ayr lead the way with their tally of 46.
While these two promotion contenders have had plenty of success from an attacking standpoint this season, they have found clean sheets hard to come by, with the Spiders securing just seven shutouts in 22 attempts, while the Honest Men have six to their name.
That similar mix of making the net bulge but struggling to keep to back door shut can be attributed to the fact Overs has copped in in a sizeable 30 of the pair's combined 44 second tier outings this season so far.
What’s more, the Over 2.75 goal barrier has been breached in each of the previous two meetings between the sides this season, so siding with the selection on Friday night seems like a sensible option at 5/6 (Bet 365).
That train of thought could also see value lie with the 10/11 combination of Both Teams to Score and Over 2.5 Goals.
This bet would have paid out in a whopping eight of Ayr’s 10 road trips this term to date, further highlighting the appeal to support a high-scoring contest at Ochilview.
This Scottish Championship match between Queen's Park and Ayr United will be played on Feb 3, 2023 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Queen's Park vs Ayr United prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
