Montrose v East Kilbride — prediction, stats and goal analysis

League One · Saturday, 22 August 2026. Final score 3–0 (half-time 2–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 55% 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 goals55%45%Over
Over 3.5 goals33%67%no pick
Both teams to score56%44%Yes

The result model puts Montrose at 32%, the draw at 25% and East Kilbride at 43%, from expected goals of 1.39 and 1.66.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. League One has produced over 2.5 goals in 49% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Montrose have 3 in 3 this season (1 of 1 at home), East Kilbride 2 in 3 (0 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 55% and 51%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 3 and 3 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 55% and 51%.

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 53%.

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 59%, from expected goals of 1.39 for Montrose and 1.66 for East Kilbride. Folding in 30% of that view gives 54%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 55%.

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
Montrose3100%33%33%
East Kilbride367%33%67%

More: Montrose season stats · East Kilbride season stats · League One table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.