League One · Saturday, 31 October 2026 · 15:00. Our rating makes this 54% to go over 2.5 goals, so our lean is over. The League One average is 51%.
| Market | Yes | No | Our call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over 2.5 goals | 54% | 46% | Over |
| Over 3.5 goals | 31% | 69% | no pick |
| Both teams to score | 51% | 49% | Yes |
The result model puts Hamilton Academical at 63%, the draw at 22% and Montrose at 15%, from expected goals of 1.98 and 0.86.
The league sets the starting point. League One has produced over 2.5 goals in 51% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.
Each side's own record. Hamilton Academical have 6 in 10 this season (3 of 5 at home), Montrose 9 in 11 (4 of 6 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 53% and 60%.
Last season still counts, briefly. With 10 and 11 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 57%.
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 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 43%. 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 54%.
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 54%, from expected goals of 1.98 for Hamilton Academical and 0.86 for Montrose. Folding in 30% of that view gives 54%.
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.
| Team | Games | O2.5 | O3.5 | BTTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Academical | 10 | 60% | 30% | 30% |
| Montrose | 11 | 82% | 18% | 45% |
Our numbers give this match a 76% chance of at least one goal before half-time and 36% of two or more. The League One rates, last season and this season combined, are 74% and 32% (this season so far: 67% with a first-half goal, from 54 games). After the break: 82% for a goal and 46% for two or more (league 84% and 43%). Hamilton Academical's last 50 games had a first-half goal 76% of the time and a second-half goal 72%; Montrose's last 50, 82% and 86%. A goal in both halves: 62% (league 63%). Highest-scoring half: second 45%, first 28%, level 27% — close to the league's usual split, because team form says little about which half is busier. Team form says less about a single half than about a full match, so these numbers stay close to the league's.
Every match ranked the same way: first half goals today · second half goals today · goal in both halves today · tomorrow.
More: Hamilton Academical season stats · Montrose season stats · League One table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.