FA Cup Betting: See the woods for the trees and go green by backing Forest

Non-Televised Match Previews / Frank Gregan / 01 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

Frank Gregan ought to know a thing or two about Derby County's opponents in the third round of the FA Cup, Forest Green - he managed them for six years. Here he tells us why he's backing the home side to win and why it's his head, not his heart, that's convincing him to do so.

Forest Green Rovers entertain Derby County in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday. It's a game that I will be taking an avid interest in having been the manager of Forest Green for six years.

When I took over the club they were languishing in the lower regions of the Southern League Midland Division and the likelihood of a FA Cup tie against a Championship side was about the same as Rab C Nesbitt waking up on New Years Day without a hangover! Indeed, the club had never reached the 1st round proper before I managed to hoodwink the board of directors at my interview and wangle the job!

A couple of promotions later saw the club in the Conference National and reaching the 1st round of the FA Cup on a regular basis. I was in charge the year that Man United didn't compete in the competition; we reached the second round and had the chance of going through to the third round courtesy of the FA's bright idea of having a 'lucky loser!' to fill the void. It wasn't to be (Darlington got the spot and faced Aston Villa) so Saturday will be the first time in the club's history that they compete at this stage of the competition.

A lot of the personalities at the club are the same as during my time there. The Chairman, Trevor Horsley is without doubt the best Chairman that I ever worked for and without his efforts (and his dosh) the club could not sustain full time football.

The Chief Scout is the same one that I originally appointed, he has re-joined Forest Green after doing spells at other clubs including one as my assistant manager. He has watched Derby twice in preparation for this tie, away to Wolves and at the Valley against Charlton and without betraying confidences it's fair to say that he has been very impressed.

Derby may be languishing in the lower reaches of the Championship but they are a big, strong, physical side and will be a handful at every set piece. The timing of the tie following this week's departure of Paul Jewell has not worked in Forest Green's favour. The Derby players will be keen to impress caretaker boss Chris Hutchings with a view to securing a place in the starting line up against Manchester United in the Carling Cup semi final four days later.

If Derby lack focus because of the upcoming semi final then Forest Green may well be able to take advantage. This is not part timers against a full time side, all Rovers players are full time and enjoy excellent training facilities. I learned a long time ago not to let my heart rule my head when laying down my hard earned for a wager on Betfair but in this instance I believe my old club has a fighting chance and I'll be backing them at [5.6].

Football throws up some weird coincidences. My last game in charge of Forest Green Rovers was an FA Cup 1st round tie against Morecombe. We were hammered 3-0 and I was sacked on the Monday following the game. The Morecombe manager that day was Jim Harvey, the current Forest Green boss. I hope he enjoys a bit more Cup luck than I did!