Home and Away: Home advantage Novara to shade dropzone duel

All eyes are on the bottom of the Italian second tier tonight

Ireland and Italy are the destinations tonight, as Jonno Turner looks to end the week with more profit...

We're off to Ireland for our first selection of the day, as Bray Wanderers travel to Wexford Youths in the FAI Cup Second Round.

The Premier Division visitors line up for this one with something of a patchy record on the road, but three clean sheets from their last five outings will give them confidence.

Pat Devlin's charges occupy seventh place in the table, and it has to be said that their placing is a pretty representative one, as their league form has been a little off of late - but their record in this competition, two wins and six goals from their last four on their travels, suggests that they should be treated with respect.

Wexford, meanwhile, are going well in the second tier - sitting fifth at kick off - but their form on their own patch has not been the best in the last couple of weeks, and they go into this game on the back of three without victory.

Half a dozen goals in that trio of fixtures points to a few problems in the home back line, and they will be wary of serving up their higher level opponents unnecessary opportunities this evening.

This promises to be a tight encounter - but I reckon that the visitors should just nick it, and the odds agree with me.

Bet 1: Bray Wanderers (AWAY) @ 2.15n/a

To Italy now, as Novara line up against Varese at the Stadio Comunale Silvio Piola in the first leg of their do-or-die Serie B play-off.

The hosts will be desperate to make the most of their home advantage in this clash - and, truth be told, their record in front of their own fans is pretty enviable.

Just a single loss in nine in their own backyard, coupled with two clean sheets on the spin ahead of this one, will give them real momentum and belief - and that could be integral in the outcome of this fixture.

A 0-0 result in the league meeting between this pair just two weeks ago suggests that the home side are capable of holding their guests, and, with Italian football notoriously cagey, I expect that they should have enough to grind out a narrow first leg win here.

The visitors, Varese, are without a win in four - consisting three defeats and a stalemate - and their 10 goals shipped in that time might be a cause for concern for boss Stefano Bettinelli.

He has seen his side win just one game since March away from the Stadio Franco Ossola, and might well be looking to next week's reverse fixture for his side's best chances of winning this stand-off.

Indeed, an impressive 2-0 win against Siena last time out on their own patch suggests that the visitors are capable of doing just that when they're in familiar territory - and I don't think a 1-0 loss in this game would worry them too much.

Bet 2: Novara (HOME) @ 2.37n/a

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2014 Home and Away P/L

Staked: 211pts
Returned: 198.66pts
P/L: -12.34pts