Dumbarton v Edinburgh City — prediction, stats and goal analysis

League Two · Saturday, 15 August 2026. Final score 0–3 (half-time 0–2). 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.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals58%42%Over
Over 3.5 goals34%66%no pick
Both teams to score59%41%Yes

The result model puts Dumbarton at 49%, the draw at 26% and Edinburgh City at 26%, from expected goals of 1.59 and 1.09.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. League Two has produced over 2.5 goals in 56% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Dumbarton have 0 in 2 this season (0 of 1 at home), Edinburgh City 2 in 2 (1 of 1 away). 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 52% and 60%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 2 and 2 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 57% and 61%.

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 59%.

Head to head. These sides have met 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 100%. 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 61%.

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 50%, from expected goals of 1.59 for Dumbarton and 1.09 for Edinburgh City. 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
Dumbarton20%0%0%
Edinburgh City2100%100%50%

Head to head

2 May 26Edinburgh City 5–0 DumbartonO2.5
31 Jan 26Dumbarton 1–2 Edinburgh CityO2.5
6 Dec 25Edinburgh City 4–3 DumbartonO2.5
30 Aug 25Dumbarton 1–2 Edinburgh CityO2.5

More: Dumbarton season stats · Edinburgh City season stats · League Two table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.