Whilst most of the higher leagues in the English footballing pyramid have players all over the place because of the International Break, the National League is still up and running with Rochdale inviting Maidenhead United to the Crown Oil Arena on Tuesday night.

Rochdale

Prior to last season, Rochdale have been a team in the top four English leagues for a while until they were relegated in the 2022/23 season, seeing them down to the fifth tier of football. In their first season in the National League and they were unable to make the jump straight back up, in fact the didn’t even make the Playoffs. They finished the season in 11th position with 16 wins, 16 losses and 14 draws. Rochdale have turned it around at the start of this year’s edition of the National League though.

Kicking off the season with a 0-3 away win against Boston United, Rochdale followed that with two draws and a loss in the next three games. 1-1, 1-0 and 0-0 results versus Dagenham & Redbridge, York City and Forest Green respectively. Putting those results behind them and now The Dale have got three wins on the trot to help push them into third place in the National League standings.

Maidenhead United

Maidenhead have spent the last seven years stuck in the National League with their best performance occurring in the season after winning the National League South title where they ended the season in 12th place. That run of seven years looks like it could be coming to an end as even though there might have been a handful of games played this season, they are some people who think it is likely that they are relegated.

Picking up their first point of the season against AFC Fylde in a goalless draw after almost a month of playing time is not a good look. The previous three games to that result all ending in defeat, 0-2 to Eastleigh, 2-1 to Solihull Moors, and 0-1 to Altrincham. That draw did help end their winless streak as they went onto beat Barnet 3-1 the following week but that couldn’t be replicated the week after, losing 4-3 to Aldershot in an intense thriller. Saturday saw that The Magpies would share a point with their opponents once more, this time being Dagenham & Redbridge.

What’s the tip?

Our betting experts have gone with Half Time/Full Time Rochdale/Draw. We feel like Maidenhead are a very inconsistent team at the moment, allowing their opponents in Rochdale to capitalise on this. If The Dales can manage to grab an early lead, we can see them keeping defensively solid and holding out to take all three points come the final whistle.

What’s the returns?

Through our bookmakers you can get odds as good as 15/1 via PariMatch. Provided a £10 stake is placed, you could see winnings of a massive £160.

Where can I watch the game?

UK viewers will be able to catch this match on National League TV.