HAVING spent five memorable years with Norwich City and just a season with Burnley at the end of his playing career, you would perhaps forgive Chris Woods for favouring the Canaries this afternoon.

But the former England goalkeeper didn’t earn a reputation as a brave competitor, for club and country, in an illustrious 22-year career for nothing.

“If I was allowed to do a coupon, I’d go for a home win,” said Woods.

A role as Everton’s goalkeeping coach, which he has held for just over 10 years, forbids him to gamble. But he’s convinced his money would be safe if he was permitted to back the Clarets.

“I think they are a tidy unit, and the manager’s doing a really good job there, so I’m sure they’ll go from strength to strength,” said the 48-year-old, who witnessed Burnley’s impressive comeback at Coventry almost two weeks ago.

“To be quite honest I thought, in the first half, that Coventry were in no danger. But Burnley played well in the second half, stuck to their task and their substitutes made an impact.

“When you think you’ve got the likes of Robbie Blake and Chris Eagles to come off the bench ... obviously they want to be playing from the start, but they are two good players.”

Norwich, on the other hand, are fighting for form; a far cry from the heady days of promotion and a League Cup win that Woods experienced in consecutive seasons in the mid-80s.

But Woods believes manager Glenn Roeder has the qualities to get them back on track.

“He is a hard worker and wants to do things right,” said the former Sheffield Wednesday stopper, who worked under Roeder at Turf Moor when he was assistant to Chris Waddle.

“You could see he would go into management himself. He’s a strong character, and knows what the game’s about.”

Woods, meanwhile, is happy with his backroom role at Goodison, and credits the Clarets for not only preparing him for a successful coaching career, but helping him to hang up his gloves on a personal high.

The Swineshead-born goalkeeper, who earned 43 caps in an eight-year international career, was given a lifeline by his old Owls and England team-mate Waddle when he was signed as back-up for Marlon Beresford in 1997.

“I’d recovered from a broken leg and dislocated ankle,” said Woods, who arrived at Turf Moor on a free transfer following a spell at Sunderland. “So by finishing my career at Burnley I was able to prove a few things to myself, that I was still okay to perform.

“It was a critical time for the club. They were struggling that year and could have gone down.

“I don’t know why that happened because the players they brought in were good enough for that league. We just didn’t get the results that we should have done, but it was important for the club to stay in that division and we did.

“I wanted to get into coaching and that season at Burnley introduced me to that, while also being able to come in and play games after Marlon was sold,” continued Woods, who made 14 league and cup appearances for the Clarets.

“It was nice for me to finish that season playing. It couldn’t have worked out any better.”