League Two play-offs: Home win can buck trend to take Wycombe through

Wycombe Wanderers, 13/10 promotion favourites with Coral, are the only team in this term’s League Two play-offs to hold a lead going into the semi-final second legs.

Although the away side has won the last six head-to-heads, Plymouth Argyle (8/1 outsiders to go up and 10/3 to make the final) are 2/1 to keep this pattern up when they visit Adams Park. Gareth Ainsworth’s hosts, meanwhile, start at 11/10 for victory in 90 minutes, while a draw, which would also take Wanderers to Wembley (1/5 to be there), is an 11/5 chance.

For punters who checked out the first leg preview, we had Wycombe frontman Paul Hayes down to score the opener again at Home Park, and he delivered. Odds of 11/2 say he can do so once more in front of his own fans.

If it were not for late goals from Zak Ansah and Jason Banton, then the Pilgrims would have a mountain to climb, but those strikes brought their deficit down to 3-2. John Sheridan has steered the Devon side to a 2-0 away victory against this opposition already this term, and needs a similar scoreline here to ensure an unlikely tie turnaround, but it’s an 18/1 shot.

Lewis Alessandra was on target in that win, and can be backed again at 2/1 in the anytime market.

Southend United v Stevenage
Phil Brown’s Shrimpers are 13/8 to go up this term, and add another promotion to their manager’s CV which includes one into the Premier League with Hull City via the play-offs. They too play host in this term’s fourth-tier second leg, with Graham Westley’s Stevenage visiting Roots Hall.