Hullshaker’s Tips: Tough Gigg for travelling U’s

THERE are three matches I like the look of this evening and while my main attention will be focused upon the hallowed Gigg Lane turf I've a sneaking suspicion each of the highlighted games will see a decent volume of traffic around the corner flags!

Bury v Oxford (7.45pm)

BEING a Bury fan isn't easy and we're not used to a busy schedule like this … for no other reason than we have very consistently crap form in all cup competitions and have done since around 1903 when we (honestly) won the FA Cup with our record 6-0 win against Derby County.

I'm not sure how much truth is in the rumour but historic records show a certain Nathaniel Upton wrote the 1903 match preview but it was sadly lost via carrier pigeon somewhere on the outskirts of Derby?

Bury Cup run highlights inspired form

Only joking Nathan but it has genuinely been a while since we put together a meaningful cup run and it certainly hasn't damaged our squad with Ryan Lowe setting out a clearly defined Cup XI which have successfully navigated Accy, Mansfield, Fleetwood and Leicester U21s along the way having netted 10 times across the 4 matches on our way to the quarter-finals.

There's actually a few rumours surrounding Lowe and a potential departure. Six consecutive wins will get you noticed whoever you are and seems a few teams are sniffing around with Luton's name cropping up more than once – let's hope he stays at Gigg in what could be a great season.

Both sides set to play their part

Oxford may be a division above us but their 20th place against our League Two second place pretty much negates itself and I'd argue we are playing the better football although granted they pulled out a cracker beating Portsmouth 2-1 on Saturday.

But Fortress Gigg is a different proposition on a Tuesday night and a freezing cold Lancashire sleet is no weather for any man unless dried pig's blood consitutes at least 30 per cent of any meal!

With the last 4 H2Hs seeing 3-3-6-5 match goals, there's certainly history and goals are well worth exploring but there is a lot at stake here and I expect it to be a fiercely fought-out encounter with neither side taking a clear lead – what does appeal is The Shakers to grab more than one and my old (and massively underrated) friend Dom Telford who has been flying in this competition having scored 5 times in the last 3 including 2 braces!

Recommeded Bets

• Bury over 1.5 team goals (11-10, Coral) – 4pts
• Dom Telford to score (15-8, bet365) – 1pt

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Corner the markets?

MY three highlighted matches all have a similar theme that form the basis for a corners treble. Namely, they all feature strong, offensive sides who have very recent form for racking up more than substantial team corner counts and featuring in high game counts within their last few matches.

Opponent-wise I see nothing in each of the matches to put me off the notion that each of the games here could, once again, see a sizeable tally with perhaps Stjarnan's game against Keflavik being the frontrunner!

Over 10 match corner bet

• Bury
• Stjarnan (8.10pm)
• Sao Paulo U-20s (9.15pm)

1pt

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