GAP Connah S Quay FC v Cardiff MET — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Cymru Premier · Friday, 18 September 2026. Final score 1–0 (half-time 0–0). 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.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals58%42%Over
Over 3.5 goals36%64%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts GAP Connah S Quay FC at 48%, the draw at 24% and Cardiff MET at 28%, from expected goals of 1.74 and 1.29.

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. GAP Connah S Quay FC have 7 in 9 this season (4 of 5 at home), Cardiff MET 5 in 8 (1 of 4 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 61% and 56%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 9 and 8 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 61% and 56%.

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 58%.

Head to head. These sides have met 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 71%. 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 58%.

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 1.74 for GAP Connah S Quay FC and 1.29 for Cardiff MET. 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
GAP Connah S Quay FC978%22%56%
Cardiff MET863%50%38%

Head to head

1 Nov 25Cardiff MET 0–3 GAP Connah S Quay FCO2.5
13 Sept 25GAP Connah S Quay FC 1–1 Cardiff METU2.5
2 Nov 24GAP Connah S Quay FC 1–0 Cardiff METU2.5
21 Sept 24Cardiff MET 2–1 GAP Connah S Quay FCO2.5
6 Apr 24Cardiff MET 0–3 GAP Connah S Quay FCO2.5
24 Feb 24GAP Connah S Quay FC 2–1 Cardiff METO2.5

More: GAP Connah S Quay FC season stats · Cardiff MET season stats · Cymru Premier table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.