Experienced non-league manager Frank Gregan on that opening day feeling

Non-league / Editor / 08 August 2007 /

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Exploit first game optimism for long-term gain

The first game of the season is probably the most level playing field of all. There is a spring in the step of everybody and optimism abounds. Supporters turn up in their droves with gladdened hearts, positive that this is going to be the year that their team punches above its weight. This is the year that all the heartache suffered throughout a lifetime will be repaid in spades. Everyone is full of cheer, targets are going to be achieved and surpassed. Pre-season defeats are swept under the carpet, nothing other than a trial and error exercise that went wrong. Even the hamburgers and hot dogs taste great and provide superb value at £4 when viewed through the rose coloured spectacles of the fan that no longer has to go shopping on a Saturday afternoon.

And it's exactly the same for the players. They will have heard no negativity since they arrived back in pre-season and consequently everyone has those two x factors - confidence and belief!

It's a fresh start, a multitude of debuts and the chance to exorcise the ghosts of last season's disasters. There is silverware at the end of the tunnel. Individually there is the chance of that dream move, the opportunity to rekindle the league career. It is so different addressing a side as a manager at the start of the season.The spectre of defeat does not haunt anyone like it does the poor teams come the mid-season period. No 4-0 midweek thrashing swirling around the heads of both coaching staff and players.There is always a genuine belief on the opening day that you can get a result no matter who you are playing.

It's for that reason that I advise you to exercise caution when backing the home bankers. The first game of the season is the game when there is value to be had by laying the short prices available on the home sides in the match odds markets. I am particularly fond of two. One is Lewes at home to newly formed Hayes and Yeading in the Blue Square Conference South. Lewes will be right up the top of the table come the end of the season but I fancy the amalgamated team of the two near West London neighbours to be difficult to beat on the opening day.

The other short priced favourite that looks appealing is Oxford United. My old club Forest Green Rovers are much improved under Jim Harvey and stunned a large crowd at the Kassam Stadium last year when winning 2-0. They are more than capable of upsetting the odds again.

You don't have to follow my recommendations, there are stacks of others out there for non-league supporters to contemplate. There are match odds available for all three Blue Square Conference divisions and a lot of short priced favourites that can come unstuck. Good luck.

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