DUNFERMLINE’S woes continued after they slid out of the Scottish Challenge Cup last week and now they must focus on climbing out of the bottom two places in the division.

The Pars play Inverness CT at East End Park on Saturday in a match the bookies find difficult to favour any of the three alternatives. Dunfermline are 8/5, a draw 5/2 (Bet365) and Caley 9/5 (Skybet).

This is a tough one. Dunfermline have shown wide extremes of competence so far and with only four league games played it is difficult to get a handle on how both teams will fare this season. In such circumstances, defaulting to the biggest-price alternative is not the worst way to go but this is probably a fixture to avoid for betting purposes.

Prediction: Dunfermline 1 Inverness CT 1.

BBC Scotland’s Friday night live fixture tomorrow features Arbroath versus Partick Thistle at Gayfield Park. The Red Lichties have over-performed this season so far while the Jags currently languish at the bottom of the division. Both sides can be backed at 13/8 with Betfair Sportsbook and Hills respectively while the draw is 13/5 (Unibet/Bet365).

The one Premiership televised match is Hamilton’s home encounter with Celtic (BT Sport 3, 12pm). The Bhoys are 2/11 (Bet365/Skybet), a draw 13/2 and the Accies 20/1 (Ladbrokes). Off a -2 handicap Celtic are 7/5 (Paddy Power), Hamilton 8/5 (Betway) and the tie is 3/1.

Rangers appear to have a similarly straightforward task in their Saturday 3pm home game with Livingston. The Gers are 2/9 to accumulate another three points, Livi are 16/1 (Betfair Sportsbook) and it is 6/1 (Bet365) that the spoils are shared. The -2 handicap in this instance has Rangers priced up at 7/4 (Paddy Power), Livingston 13/10 (Betway) and a tie 3/1 (Bet365).

The Rugby World Cup starts a week on Friday and the layers have been beavering away with a wide range of markets. The outright prices are as follows: New Zealand 11/8, South Africa and England both 9/2, Ireland 10/1 (Ladbrokes), Wales 12/1 (Spreadex), Australia 18/1 (Spreadex), France 33/1, Argentina 50/1, Scotland 80/1 (Ladbrokes) and then it is 300/1 bar. Each way terms are ⅓ odds 1,2 place.

Top tryscorer odds are available with Boylesports and Paddy Power notably paying each-way odds ⅕ but seven places (more typically the terms are ¼ odds 4 places). Name the finalists and prices for each individual pool can also be wagered on. In Scotland’s case, the Pool A prices are: Ireland 1/4, Scotland 4/1 (Betway), Japan 20/1 (Betway/Betvictor), Samoa 300/1 (Boylesports) and Russia 1,000/1 (Betfred).