- Bayside are 1.31 favourites to win this match against 7.6 odds for Kingston.
- Over 2.5 goals is set at 1.38, but the likely score-line is 2-0 or 2-1.
- Bayside's 24 points from 15 matches has them in mid-table 6th spot, comfortably inside the top half.
Bayside have enough attacking quality to get the win
The hosts are the big favourites at 1.31 to win Saturday's Victoria Premier League 2 fixture against Kingston City, who are 7.6 outsiders for this relegation six-pointer. Bayside Argonauts have had a solid, if unspectacular, season to date with the club sitting in 6th spot on 24 points from 15 fixtures. Since a wobble in mid-May, the men have recovered to find some consistency and, in the process, appear to have become a more fluid attacking outfit. The Argonauts play a proactive game, often in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-4 system, where they push their full-backs high up the field and try to get wide players onto the ball quickly and vertically. Jesse Makarounas is their creative hub, both in terms of set-piece quality and leadership from midfield, while Yuta Hirayama is the most advanced player in their line-up and the most dangerous centre-forward. Kingston, by contrast, are a more compact and pragmatic unit, setting up in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation in which they try to stay compact and organised at the back, while trying to play on the counter-attack from deep. They have been in a state of flux recently with Gary Parker reportedly coming into the club after Slav Lujic's resignation.
Bayside backers have the edge
The Kingston midfield has struggled to create chances despite having the ball for long periods of the game with Georgi Shalamanov-Trenkov and Matthew Loutrakis getting a bit of joy from their respective positions. Damian Iaconis, Mawien Nielo and Yianni Panakos are the main threats from the front-line, but the side have been struggling to score goals all season, averaging 0.8 - 0.9 goals per game this season, one of the worst in the division.
Bayside's form line of W-D-L-L-W, culminating in a 2-0 win over Werribee City, has them moving back up the table into the top-half while Kingston have suffered a 5-0 defeat away to Malvern City and a 2-0 loss at home to Keilor Park.
Despite the odds being heavily against Kingston here, we feel the home side are justified favourites based on their form, home advantage and the instability at the other side's camp. Taketo Hosokawa and Kostantinos Droutsas are dependable regulars for the Argonauts and this clash of width vs compactness could go either way, but we'll back the experienced side to find the three points in this one.