Betfred Cup: betting preview, free tips & match details

Saturday 3pm

Motherwell should be too strong for Queen of the South at Dumfries as the Betfred Cup group stages gets the season going north of the border.

The Fir Park side have had a traumatic summer with the on-off transfer of star midfielder David Turnbull to Celtic, which collapsed when a knee injury was discovered.

But the Lanarkshire side still have plenty in their squad to see off the Palmerston Park outfit.

The summer addition of solid defender Declan Gallagher from Livingston should mean Well have a fighting chance of a top-half finish in the league.

In pre-season, they looked decent with wins at Linfield and Darlington.

They face a Queen of the South team who shipped 18 players in the summer and have so far brought in only eight.

Well's class should be enough to get them off to a good start in the group.

Annan look overpriced to land a win against a Dumbarton side who are in the middle of big changes.

The hosts are unbeaten in their last 12 games at their Galabank home - they have won ten of them and narrowly missed out on the League Two playoffs to Clyde.

They have kept the majority of their squad in the close season and made a few tidy additions.

On the other hand, Dumbarton saw 17 players leave The Rock after the end of the season and that exodus included Dom Thomas, who was vital to them on loan from Kilmarnock.

Manager Jim Duffy has used a lot of trialists in the build-up games and is running with a very light squad until he gets some new faces in, so Annan are worth a punt on their home patch.

Falkirk are another big-priced team who could spring a shock against Livingston having taken drastic action following their relegation from the Ladbrokes Championship.

Manager Ray McKinnon was backed and he's been allowed to bring in players with Ladbrokes Premiership experience such as Conor Sammon, Cammy Bell and Morgaro Gomis.

They will fancy their chances against a Livi side who have had the heart ripped out of their overachieving squad with two of their solid three-man trusted defence gone and impressive keeper Liam Kelly off to QPR.

And the Bairns could spring an early season shock at home.

Recommendations
Motherwell
1pt 4-6 general
Bet on this match with bet365

Annan
1pt 2-1 Hills
Bet on this match with bet365

Falkirk
1pt 7-2 bet365, Hills
Bet on this match with bet365

Bet on all these matches at Soccerbase.com

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