The New Saints v Colwyn Bay — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Cymru Premier · Friday, 28 August 2026. Final score 5–1 (half-time 3–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 51% 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 goals51%49%Over
Over 3.5 goals32%68%no pick
Both teams to score48%52%No

The result model puts The New Saints at 66%, the draw at 21% and Colwyn Bay at 13%, from expected goals of 1.94 and 0.71.

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 1 in 4 this season (0 of 2 at home), Colwyn Bay 2 in 4 (2 of 2 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 49% and 53%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 4 and 4 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 58% and 47%.

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%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 17%. 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 51%.

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 49%, from expected goals of 1.94 for The New Saints and 0.71 for Colwyn Bay. Folding in 30% of that view gives 51%.

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 Saints425%25%0%
Colwyn Bay450%25%25%

Head to head

20 Mar 26The New Saints 0–2 Colwyn BayU2.5
13 Feb 26Colwyn Bay 0–2 The New SaintsU2.5
13 Jan 26The New Saints 1–0 Colwyn BayU2.5
25 Aug 25Colwyn Bay 1–1 The New SaintsU2.5
31 Oct 23The New Saints 6–1 Colwyn BayO2.5
29 Aug 23Colwyn Bay 0–1 The New SaintsU2.5

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