A pair of Paddy Power customers in Scotland took the Irish firm for a combined £20,000 in the space of minutes at the weekend – but both needed late, late goals to get their accas over the line.
One of them placed a £5 five-fold on a quintet of teams to win and both teams to score within those individual fixtures.
And another bettor from north of the border had a £20 four-fold in the very same market… landing a cool £11,869.
It’s always great to read about these stories of punting success, which are even more welcome in the lead-up to Christmas.
But, seemingly as ever in these big acca wins, it was some late drama that got both of these punters into the winner’s circle…
Twists and Turns
Punter number one compiled their five-fold from games played in the English Premier League, the Championship and the Scottish Premiership.
They backed Sunderland, Brentford, Middlesbrough, Norwich and Dundee to win their respective games, with both teams scoring in each:
- Sunderland vs Bournemouth
- Brentford vs Burnley
- Norwich vs QPR
- Middlesbrough vs Derby
- Dundee vs St Mirren
It was a coupon fraught with hair raising moments. Sunderland, of course, were 0-2 down after 15 minutes against Bournemouth courtesy of goals from Amine Adli and Tyler Adams.
The Black Cats battled back, with Enzo Le Fee notching a first half penalty and Bertrand Traore finding the back of the net just after half time.
A tense second period went back and forth, but it was Sunderland who found the all-important third goal courtesy of Brian Brobbey.
While a Sunderland win looked very unlikely after 15 minutes of their game, the contest between Brentford and Burnley looked for all the money to be fading into a goalless draw.
It was 0-0 with just ten minutes of regular time to be played, but then the contest burst into life: Igor Thiago and Zian Flemming exchanging penalties before Thiago and Dango Ouattara fired the Bees to victory.
A stressful afternoon for the Scottish punter would take more twists and turns, but at least Norwich City were comfortable in their 3-1 win over QPR.
The BTTS element of the bet landed after just eleven minutes, before the Canaries kicked on and won 3-1 courtesy of goals from Emiliano Marcondes, Forson Amankwah and an Amadou Salif Mbengue own goal.
Middlesbrough were a goal down after just two minutes against Derby, before they equalised in the 75th minute through Matt Targett.
It was Boro that looked the more likely in the closing stages, and they eventually got their reward when Morgan Whittaker fired home the winner.
Dundee also went behind against St Mirren, but found themselves 2-1 in front at the half-time interval.
There would be one more goal in the game… that went to Dundee too, courtesy of Joe Westley.
Our punter had seen three of their selected teams go behind, and even saw a Win & Both Teams to Score pick land that was 0-0 in the 80th minute!
Their luck was well and truly in on Saturday, and they turned a £5 wager into £9,200 in time for Christmas.
Second Big Bet Lands
Meanwhile, their fellow Scot was experiencing a similar sweat on their coupon.
Again, they had backed a team to win and both teams to score in the game:
- Sunderland to beat Bournemouth
- Norwich to beat QPR
- Millwall to beat Southampton
- Cambridge United to beat Crewe Alexandra
As we know, Sunderland and Norwich – by hook or by crook – eventually won their respective games, with both teams finding the net.
The Millwall vs Southampton game was goalless at half time… before five second half goals delivered what will be amongst the most exciting 45 minutes of play that anybody in the New Den will ever see.
Happily for the punter in question, the fifth of those goals went to Millwall in a 3-2 win, with Tristan Crama notching a 97th minute winner… they had surely given up hope by this point.
But the Cambridge and Crewe clash was locked at 1-1 deep into injury time, so even for that Millwall late show things appeared futile.
And then a Cambridge player was felled in the box, a penalty was awarded and Ben Knight held his nerve to convert and land another 97th minute winner.
Our punter’s heart rate must have been stratospheric… but after calming down, they would have seen their Paddy Power account balance grow by a cool £11,869.
And what a way to do it!