In the six games between the two sides they have shared just three clean sheets and five players have scored two or more goals in a match.

Three of them were Wrexham players, Matt Derbyshire, Mark Jones and Andy Morrell, while the Rushden duo are an interesting pair; stalwart of the early years of the Premiership, Paul Kitson, and Paul Hall, who spent the second half of last season at The Racecourse.

Mind you, it has been Wrexham strikers who have had more joy. Rushden have never kept a clean sheet against us and apart from the four goals Hall and Kitson managed they've only scored one other, put away by Rodney Jack, who was on trial with us two years ago!

We've won four and drawn two games against the Diamonds, including wins the last two times we travelled to Nene Park.

Our last game there was back in January 2006 as a Rushden side which was subsiding to relegation to the Conference – perhaps inevitably as serial relegation victim Drewe Broughton was leading the line for them!

A goal in each half by Mark Jones was enough to secure a 2-0 win, either side of a shot by debutant Marc Williams which hit the bar.
Before that season Wrexham were indebted to the remarkable form of Carlos Edwards against Rushden.

Not only had he scored in each of the first four games between the sides, but he opened the scoring in the first 12 minutes of each match, getting Wrexham off to the ideal start. A factor in three further goals by Morrell and you can see why we have enjoyed great success against The Diamonds.

Our other win at Irthlingborough came in October 2003 and it seemed the job had been done by half time as Darren Ferguson had added to Edwards' inevitable opener to give us a two goal lead. However, Kitson gave us a few nervous moments with two second half goals, and we needed a Hector Sam goal to triumph.

Our history of goalscoring success against Rushden might inspire Simon Brown, who certainly has the capacity to win a game and might feel that he's due one.

He scored the fastest hat-trick in Mansfield's history last November when he got three in 14 minutes in a 5-0 thrashing of Macclesfield. However, he hasn't scored since!

It would be remiss to let last Saturday's events pass without a mention.

Our 5-0 win over Stevenage was our best opening day result in modern times, beating a 4-0 victory over Notts County in 1964 when Ken Barnes got two and Arfon Griffiths and Sam McMillan notched the others.

The only time we've had a better start than last Saturday came back in 1895, our sixth season in organised football, when we started our Combination League season with a 6-1 victory over Westminster Rovers.


Ask Brian

If you have a question for Brian Little email it to digitalnews@nwn.co.uk and we'll ask as many as we can during our next video interview with the Reds boss this Thursday.