Northampton – Oxford, English Division 3
2004-04-03 16.00 CET
Pick: Northampton (Asian hcp -0,25)
Stake: 2%
Odds: 1,88
Final reason for bet
· Northampton has a very good home form with eight straight wins.
· Northampton made an impressing display in last game.
· Northampton has a fully fit squad.
· Oxford has been out of form lately, especially on the road.
General comment about the game
Northampton plays Oxford in the English division three. Northampton is the best form team in the league for the moment with seven wins and one draw from the last ten games. Especially they are a good home side and they now have eight straight home wins. One of the reasons for the recent good spell is that their coach Colin has stuck to a set formation, and without any injuries and suspensions it has granted for very consistent and good play. Last weekend Northampton played away to Macclesfield, a game ending with a comfortable 4-0 victory. The man of the day was midfielder Marc Richards who scored all four goals in the first half of the game. Macclesfield were not bad but they did not succeed to get the ball in and since Northampton was very efficient the game was really over quite early. There are no suspensions or important players missing in Northampton. Midfielder Greg Lincoln (4(3) apps, 1 goal) is back in contention after being out with injury since January.
Oxford was one of the best teams in the league during the autumn months but in 2004 things has not really worked for them and on the road their form is really low with only two points taken from the six last games. Oxford has had some troubles beside the pitch lately since their coach Ian Atkins was connected to Bristol Rovers who said that Atkins would sign a two year contract with them in the summer. The Oxford board responded with putting Atkins out of charge. Now a new coach has taken over, Graham Rix. Rix’s first match in charge was in the midweek game against league leaders Doncaster. The game ended 0-0, after Doncaster being the better side. Without some wonderful saves from Simon Cox in the Oxford goal Doncaster should have won. Cox who made his first team debut will probably be in charge against Northampton also. According to Rix there has been a change in optimism in the Oxford squad after the Doncaster game. There are more smiles and laughter among the players now and the nervousness from the beginning of the week is gone. He says that the squad really looks forward to the Northampton game. The only doubts in the Oxford squad are defender Jon Ashton (26(3) apps, 0 goals) and midfielder Barry Quinn (4 apps, 0 goals). There might be changes in the starting line up since a reserve game in midweek gave Rix some thoughts. The final team will not be displayed before match day.
This is a derby game that we believe an in form Northampton side will win. We go for an Asian handicap on -0,25 meaning that we get half our stake back in case of a draw. 2% stake is suggested.
Recent games for home team
|
2004-03-27 |
Macclesfield-Northampton |
0-4 |
|
2004-03-20 |
Northampton-Huddersfield |
1-0 |
|
2004-03-16 |
Carlisle-Northampton |
1-1 |
|
2004-03-13 |
Northampton-Boston |
2-0 |
|
2004-03-06 |
Cambridge-Northampton |
0-1 |
Recent games for away team
|
2004-03-27 |
Oxford-Doncaster |
0-0 |
|
2004-03-20 |
Mansfield-Oxford |
0-0 |
|
2004-03-17 |
Oxford-Cheltenham |
1-0 |
|
2004-03-13 |
Carlisle-Oxford |
2-0 |
|
2004-03-06 |
Oxford-Huddersfield |
0-1 |
Home table
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Northampton |
19 |
12 |
2 |
5 |
23-16 |
38 |
Away table
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Oxford |
19 |
4 |
10 |
5 |
18-19 |
22 |
Links for this game
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Oxford: |
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// SportsObserver 040402
