- Chippenham have won twice and lost four times in away games this season, conceding 13 goals at 2.17 per match on average.
- Yate have won four and lost one of their last five home games, scoring 1.80 and conceding 1.20 per match on average.
- Yate are the in-form team, winning 6-2-2 in the last 10 in all competitions while Chippenham have been less convincing, winning 3-2-5 in the same period.
Yate in good shape
Yate Town are in good form going into Friday's FA Cup Qualification 2026 qualifier against Chippenham Town, who they played out a 1-1 draw with in the Southern League Premier Division South five weeks ago.
The Bluebells have won two games in a row since that match, firstly recording a 3-0 home clean sheet over Devizes Town in the FA Cup and then a 3-2 away victory at Hanworth Villa in the league last Saturday.
It's hard to see anything but a close and competitive cup tie between these two teams this Friday. Yate have been the better of the two sides recently, but Chippenham are a useful team with some punch to them.
Chippenham can play and can be played at
Gary Horgan's men, who took over in April 2022, have mixed recent form, with a win over Havant & Waterlooville and a loss to Bath City, so they can be beat.
The Chippenham boss sets his side up to play with the ball and from the wings, as well as long throws, but the visitors may not get that many opportunities to play that way against a compact Yate unit if this game gets scrappy.
Yate's approach is to press high up the field and make a lot from corners and other dead-ball situations, while Marcus Day has been the danger man up top.
Yate have a touch of magic
Day has scored three of Yate's seven goals in the last five and they seem the most likely to nick this game, but the odds of 11/10 are a bit short when Chippenham are 97/50 and the draw 49/20.
That 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture does indicate that this will be tight and Chippenham could nick a result in this one. An over 2.5 goals wager at 11/20 looks a better fit, but we're going with the draw on Friday night.
