League Two · Saturday, 31 October 2026 · 15:00. Our rating makes this 53% to go over 2.5 goals, so our lean is over. The League Two average is 57%.
| Market | Yes | No | Our call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over 2.5 goals | 53% | 47% | Over |
| Over 3.5 goals | 32% | 68% | no pick |
| Both teams to score | 55% | 45% | Yes |
The result model puts Spartans at 53%, the draw at 25% and Annan Athletic at 22%, from expected goals of 1.63 and 0.94.
The league sets the starting point. League Two has produced over 2.5 goals in 57% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.
Each side's own record. Spartans have 7 in 11 this season (4 of 6 at home), Annan Athletic 5 in 11 (2 of 5 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 59% and 54%.
Last season still counts, briefly. With 11 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 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 56%.
Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 40%. 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 55%.
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 48%, from expected goals of 1.63 for Spartans and 0.94 for Annan Athletic. Folding in 30% of that view gives 53%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spartans | 11 | 64% | 55% | 55% |
| Annan Athletic | 11 | 45% | 27% | 45% |
Our numbers give this match a 75% chance of at least one goal before half-time and 37% of two or more. The League Two rates, last season and this season combined, are 76% and 43% (this season so far: 82% with a first-half goal, from 55 games). After the break: 80% for a goal and 48% for two or more (league 79% and 44%). Spartans's last 50 games had a first-half goal 74% of the time and a second-half goal 84%; Annan Athletic's last 50, 74% and 80%. A goal in both halves: 59% (league 60%). Highest-scoring half: second 43%, first 30%, 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: Spartans season stats · Annan Athletic season stats · League Two table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.