BETS OF THE WEEK

After sitting down and reviewing the weekend soccer and racing  results on Sunday evening, I have to admit I thought the pay-out windows in local bookies wouldn’t be particularly busy the next morning.

QPR, Chelsea, Spurs, Celtic and Liverpool were the main coupon-busters, but as my oul’ Da keeps telling me, you have to think different, and there are punters out there who did just that at the weekend.

We start with the William Hill punter who took the city centre firm for over six grand with a £10 half-time score treble. He took BRENTFORD (10/1) to be leading at half-time in their FA Cup tie against  Chelsea. A goal from  Brentford’s. Mark Trotta in the 42nd minute meant our punter had a £110 double on the go. When Luke Varney give LEEDS (4/1) a early lead our punter began to dream and the Yorkshire side held on to the break, meaning our punter had £550 going on to his last selection.

To honest, the bet looked doomed as the Oldham v Liverpool game went deep into first-half injury time at 1-1, but Reds keeper Brad Jones messed up a routine gather and Matt Smith was on hand to turn the ball home, netting our sweating punter £6,050. What a win!

Sean Graham also took a bit of a hammering at the weekend with one North Belfast punter hitting them for close to three and a half grand with a correct-score bet. The Antrim Road punter did three x £1 doubles and a £2 treble on three 2-1 scorelines and with 15 minutes to go all his games were poised at 1-1.

When Tom Ince put Blackpool 2-1 up at Wolves our punter was set for a dramatic finish. A late goal at Turf Moor where Birmingham grabbed a 90th minute winner thanks to Marlon King, and the sweat was on.

Seconds later a goal at the Reebok where Johnny Heitinga fired in the winner for Everton to the delight of our punter who had just won £3,469.50 for his fiver.

Now the Bet of the Week – that’s right, folks, there is a better one than those two crackers. A lucky Falls Road punter placed a small £3.50 bet on five horses –  10 x 10p doubles, 10 x 10p trebles, five x 10p quads, a 50p accumulator and a 50p place accumulator with Sean Graham.

The bet got off to a flyer when FROGNAL (8/1) hosed up in the 2.00 at Lingfield and just over a hour later ROBINS HOOD BAY (9/2) did exactly the same in the 3.10.

First two winners on the board and  his third selection, LIeutenant Dan (5/2), looked doomed as favourite Kieltys Folly loomed inside the final furlong but found nothing under pressure and our punter had three in the bag.

CONDUCTING (8/1) stole a march on his rivals in the 4.15 at Lingfield to give our punter the sweat of his life on the 4.30 at Wolverhampton.

His final selection, HARVEST MIST, hit the front a furlong out and gamely held off the fast-finishing favourite to net our punter... wait for it... £11,318.48. For £3.50! Huge credit to our Falls guy who took our motto of ‘Bet Small Win Big’ on to a whole new level.

The PG QUAD

Right, folks, quickly into our weekend selections and we start with the PG Quad and WIGAN (1/1) are first team down at home to Southampton with Roberto Martinez’s team as usual starting to show their battling qualities at the right time of the season and they can bank maximum points.

BOURNEMOUTH (5/2) can upset the odds and take all points at MK Dons while SWINDON (5/4) can recharge their faltering promotion push with a win at Crawley.

Making the weekend PG Quad up this week are are ST MIRREN (6/4) who can follow up that shock semi-final win over Celtic with a victory against St Johnstone in the Scottish FA Cup.

The PG XXX TRIxIE

To the Championship for all the draws this week and we suggest you place your X by the following games: Millwall v Hull, Sheffield Wednesday v Brighton and finishing with the Watford v Bolton game.

The PG GOALRUSH

Just the nine from 12 last week, so improvement needed and  we suggest both teams to score in the following games: Newcastle v Chelsea, Ipswich v Middlesbrough, Cheltenham v Torquay, Yeovil v Brentford, Walsall v Oldham and finishing with the big Championship game at Elland Road where Leeds host Cardiff.

The PG Fivehit

We finish the weekend soccer with our odds-on Fivehit  and again we’re heading to the Championship for most of them.

BLACKBURN (8/13) welcome Bristol City and should take all points while BLACKPOOL (3/5) look too strong for Barnsley who have hit form in the past week.

CRYSTAL PALACE (3/4) can maintain their promotion drive with a win over Charlton while TRANMERE (4/5) can continue to lead the way in League One with a win over Carlisle. It’s off to the Scottish Cup to make the weekend Fivehit up and FALKIRK (1/2) should see off League Two outfit Forfar.

Weekend Racing

That winter weather is at last starting to clear as we head into what looks like a very busy  February and the build-up to Cheltenham 2013 begins in earnest. We have top-class racing from Sandown, Ffos Las and Punchestown this weekend and punters will get some valuable pre-festival hints.Starting at Punchestown on Sunday and it should be all one-way in the Tied Cottage Chase where SIZING EUROPE makes an appearance. At Sandown all eyes will be on the smart CAPTAIN CONAN in the Scilly Isles Novices Chase while the The Tom George-trained RODY looks the one to beat in the Betfair Chase on the same card while KEPPOLS HILL will take some stopping in the Betfred Masters.

We have the William Hill Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las and OSCAR DARA looks a solid bet in this one.