The New Saints v Haverfordwest County AFC — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Cymru Premier · Friday, 7 August 2026. Final score 2–0 (half-time 1–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 58% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

Open this match in the app →

Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals58%42%Over
Over 3.5 goals39%61%no pick
Both teams to score51%49%Yes

The result model puts The New Saints at 70%, the draw at 18% and Haverfordwest County AFC at 12%, from expected goals of 2.39 and 0.87.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Cymru Premier has produced over 2.5 goals in 54% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. The New Saints have 0 in 1 this season, Haverfordwest County AFC 0 in 1. Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 51% and 51%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 1 and 1 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 59% and 52%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 55%.

Head to head. These sides have met 8 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 75%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 56%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 63%, from expected goals of 2.39 for The New Saints and 0.87 for Haverfordwest County AFC. Folding in 30% of that view gives 58%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
The New Saints10%0%0%
Haverfordwest County AFC10%0%0%

Head to head

1 Nov 25Haverfordwest County AFC 2–3 The New SaintsO2.5
6 Sept 25The New Saints 5–0 Haverfordwest County AFCO2.5
19 Apr 25Haverfordwest County AFC 1–3 The New SaintsO2.5
8 Mar 25The New Saints 5–1 Haverfordwest County AFCO2.5
10 Nov 24The New Saints 2–1 Haverfordwest County AFCO2.5
7 Sept 24Haverfordwest County AFC 0–1 The New SaintsU2.5

More: The New Saints season stats · Haverfordwest County AFC season stats · Cymru Premier table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.