Dumbarton vs Spartans

Scottish League Two · Sat 19 Sep 2026, 15:00
Dumbarton
1.17–1.56expected goals
Spartans
Dumbarton
28%
Draw
26%
Spartans
46%
Most likely scorelines
1-112.6% · 7.90-19.5% · 10.51-29.3% · 10.80-27.9% · 12.60-07.2% · 13.91-07.0% · 14.32-17.0% · 14.32-25.4% · 18.4
Exact scores are low-probability by nature — the likeliest scoreline here is 13%, and these eight cover 66% of outcomes between them.
Most likely score by result
If Dumbarton 1-0 · 7% · 14.3If draw 1-1 · 13% · 7.9If Spartans 0-1 · 10% · 10.5
How this is modelled. Dixon-Coles Poisson with ridge-penalised attack and defence ratings, exponential time decay and a low-score correction, fitted on five seasons of Scottish league results, with a shots-on-target proxy blended into the expected-goals estimate. Early in a season the fit pools all four Scottish divisions, because promoted and relegated clubs have no record in their new division; it shifts to a division-specific fit once the season has its own data. Backtesting on both match result and exact scoreline showed that schedule beats either fixed choice.
These are model probabilities for information only, not betting advice. In walk-forward testing on a held-out season this model did not beat bookmaker prices — flat-stake betting on its disagreements lost money. It is published as a calibrated forecast, not an edge.