Non-league / Editor / 31 October 2007 /

Oxford make home team a shaky betting prospect in live Blue Square Conference match-up, says Frank Gregan

Thursday's live match promises to be a lively encounter between Rushden and Oxford, two sides fighting to make an impact in this year's Blue Square Conference National.

Rushden rose to prominence during the 1990s when they were bankrolled by the man behind the Dr Martens footwear range, Max Griggs. It has been a real rollercoaster ride for the club since its formation in 1992. In those 15 years they have gone from the Southern League Midland Division (Level 3 in the non-league pyramid) up to League One and back down to the Conference. Their fortunes during that time have encompassed five divisions. The Griggs era has ended, he handed over the keys to the supporters trust back in 2005 along with a cheque for £750,000 to help them with the housekeeping. I met him many times, an absolute gentleman.

Rushden's home, Nene Park, is a very impressive stadium but they are struggling to perform there this season. It is one of those grounds that I always liked to visit and there is little doubt that as an opposition manager you get an extra 10 per cent from your players in relation to the surroundings. Oxford of course have a very tidy stadium themselves and this will help them to feel at ease rather than having to grind out a result at one of the older, more intimidating grounds.

One of my former players is at Rushden, Wayne Hatswell but I see that he was left out at the weekend after scoring an own goal the week before. Own goals are nothing new to Wayne, every time there is a spectacular OG scored in the premiership, Gary Lineker shows the greatest OG of all time that was scored by Wayne for Forest Green Rovers in an FA Cup tie. Lineker, Hansen and Co then spend two minutes laughing about it on Match of the Day replaying the gaff to increase the humour. It really gets on my nerves, I got the sack straight after that game and I'm quite sure that OG was a major contributing factor!

I think this is going to be a very tight game but I refuse to recommend the draw. I've never been one for fence sitting and cannot imagine the prospect of shouting at the telly "come on ye draw!" Oxford have won the same amount of games on the road (three) as they have at home and given that Rushden have only the one victory at Nene Park an Oxford win at odds of 2.9 looks the value bet. What price a Wayne Hatswell OG is the winning goal?

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