One lucky punter landed over £2,000 off a £5 stake at the weekend to leave Paddy Power smarting on Monday morning.
The gambler from Grimsby pocketed £2,289 after plumping for an ambitious ‘Result and Both Teams to Score’ parlay fourfold around Europe on Saturday.
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And the brave bettor was duly rewarded with a bumper pay-out, but they were made to wait with the selection only landing thanks to some late Serie A drama and a bit of FA Cup magic.
The first leg of the fourfold was a relatively straightforward affair in Spain, with Levante coming from behind to beat fellow La Liga mid-table rivals Eibar 2-1 on their home turf at odds of 3/1.
Paddy’s Hall of Fame: Punter pockets nearly €6k off €1.40 racing sixfold
The visitors took the lead though Takashi Inui shortly after half-time but Levante struck back through Gonzalo Melero and Jose Luis Morales Nogales to get things off to a solid start.
Attention then switched to Italy, with one of this season’s Serie A surprise packages Verona hosting bottom club Crotone.
Unsurprisingly, our punter went for a home victory and goals from Nikola Kalinic and Federico Dimarco put Verona in control before Crotone held up their end of the bet when Junior Messias bagged an all-important consolation for Crotone.
But the major drama was simultaneously unfolding in Udine, where our fourfold relied on Napoli beating Udinese but both teams scoring at odds of 3/1.
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Lorenzo Insigne put Napoli ahead from the penalty spot after 15 minutes while Kevin Lasagna equalised for the home side just over 10 minutes later following a defensive mix-up.
But our punter’s dreams looked shattered with the scores tied approaching the final whistle, only for on-loan Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko to pop up with a 90th-minute winner for the Naples outfit.
Bakayoko may have struggled to settle in west London, but he’s surely got a place to stay in Grimsby now after his last-gasp heroics kept this fourfold on track.
Having safely banked the third leg, it all came down to Bristol City’s FA Cup third round clash with Portsmouth.
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Odds of over 5/1 suggested backing the Robins and expecting Pompey to find the back of the net was the longest shot out of all the selections, but Famara Diedhiou’s 19th-minute strike for the Championship side will have settled some nerves.
And Callum Johnson’s equaliser for the visitors on the stroke of half-time meant our punter was almost home and dry, but they had to wait until the 83rd minute before Chris Martin bagged the vital winner for Bristol City and secured a superb piece of betting.
Talk about magic of the Cup, eh?
All we can do is tip our cap and say “well done and welcome to our Punting Hall of Fame!”
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