Punters from our two islands would certainly have a good deal of knowledge when it comes to the second tier of English football. However, one Welsh Paddy Power customer really showed off an encyclopedic football brain to take us to the cleaners with a punt on the Spanish second division last Friday.
Our winner, from Swansea in Wales, placed a £1 double on two games in the Spanish Segunda that had our bean counters checking their prescriptions with Specsavers when it came in. it was that unbelievable.
The beautiful bet, which returned a tasty £3,417, somehow correctly predicted that both sides would score a penalty in the Fuenlabrada v Elche and Girona v Cadiz games on Friday.
The double still has us scratching our heads and let’s tell you how it came in:
With the games kicking off at 20:00, our winner had to wait until the second half of both games for the fun to begin.
Fuenlabrada were the first to show signs of life as Elche’s Jonathas de Jesus stupidly handled an in-swinging corner to give Hugo Fraile a chance to double the home side’s lead from the penalty spot. The winger duly converted from 12 yards in the 51st minute by sliding the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal and sending the keeper the wrong way in the process.
That was a case of one down three to go, and then former Middlesbrough front man Cristhian Stuani got the punt halfway home in the Girona/Cadiz game eight minutes later. Stuani’s goal-bound shot was blocked by the arm of Javier Duarte Egea for already promoted Cadiz and the Uruguayan striker confidently beat the keeper from the spot to make it 2-0 to Girona.
Switching back to matters in the Fuenlabrada v Elche match and Jonathas made amends for his earlier mistake with 15 minutes to go, as VAR stepped in to award the away side a penalty as the ball appeared to strike the arm of Fuenlabrada’s Mikel Iribas. Jonathas slotted the spot kick to give Elche a lifeline at 2-1, but it wasn’t enough, and the home side would run out 3-1 winners in the end.
Finally, our winner needed a goal from a penalty from Cadiz to land the loot from his outrageous punt and Álex Fernandez was handed the opportunity to do just that with five minutes to go at the Estadi Montilivi.
Girona’s Johan Mojica was shown a second yellow card after being caught by VAR elbowing Salvi inside the box and Fernandez calming converted to the keeper’s right to reduce Cadiz’s arrears to 2-1 on the night. But, they were unable to find an equalizer in the remaining minutes and the home outfit secured a crucial victory over the league leaders.
That goal meant our victor beat odds of 3,416/1 to land one hell of a plucky punt and a coveted rare spot in our Punting Hall of Fame!
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