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issue 85 posted at 11.00am on 12 September 2008...

Even though Croatia v England cost us what Frank Lampard earns in a fortnight, some of the boys on the trading floor will be happy with that sensational result in mid-week. Like all bookies, breweries and burger sellers, we desperately want England to qualify. A World Cup without England is like sport on Setanta, it just doesn’t feel right. So go on you Lions, roll on Kazakhstan and the invasion of the mankini (you’ll see what I mean come October).

Yours in sport

 

Mr. Personality morphed himself into a major tennis force over the weekend as Andy Murray created the shock of the tennis year by lowering the colours of Rafael Nadal. And one client was on board the money train after buying the Scot's Win Index at a measly 5.75 for a gargantuan £1,000 (25pts for the win, 0pts for a loss). Murray, fresh from defeating the parental hating Juan Martin Del Potro, would not have been given much chance (even by his own mother). But the boy from Dunblane doesn't mind upsetting people and this showed when, incredibly, he went two sets up against the man with those head turning guns. Then the rain came but this turned out to be a godsend for Murray as Nadal was coming back at him faster than a proton in Switzerland. The day's break meant that even though Nadal finished the third set to the good he didn’t have the momentum that he had before. Murray, with a 0-5 record against the Spaniard, was able to recover from a break down in the fourth to win 6-4, get through to the final, improve his world ranking and make one punter £19,250 richer.
 

One of the great headlines in print history graced the shelves on Thursday. "Trio Walcott" tickled the belly of this mammal but wouldn't have brought a smile to one particular client who, although a winner, will be kicking himself that he didn't hack up! The punter bought the wee man's Goal Minutes at 6 for £15 in Wednesday's English obliteration of Croatia. After 26 minutes and 12 deflections the diminutive forward was on the score sheet as he drilled in a fortunate opener past Stipe Pletikosa. Then, a hasty decision by our man, saw him close his bet at 28 for a profit of £300. This would've looked like decent business until the teenager scored an almost carbon copy of his first in the 59th minute AND THEN broke through to slot home in the 82nd for England's first competitive hat-trick since Michael Owen bagged three in Munich seven years ago. God only knows how the client must be feeling missing out on more than 2,000 of the Queen's finest. My guess is it was about as bad as Joe Cole felt after his elbow in the head.
 

NFL Patriots' players and fans suffered a massive body blow when the news of Tom Brady's season-long injury was announced. Last year's Super Bowl runners-up may have beaten Kansas on Sunday but they are down a staggering 22 to 25-29 on our Super Bowl Outright Index.

Ryder Cup Should he have picked Darren Clarke? Should he have chosen more than one assistant? Nick Faldo seems to have a lot on his plate, how will he handle the pressure? Europe are down 0.5 to 11.5-13 on the Outright Index to make it pick'em.

Guinness Premiership Heyneke Meyer was in raptures after his Leicester side opened their Guinness Premiership campaign with a 20-8 victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm at the weekend. The Tigers are up five to 34-37 on our Guinness Premiership Regular Season Index.


Mildly interesting / useless sporting fact

Trio Walcott, the new hero of English sport (until the media knock him off his perch), makes no bones about which team he supports. The Arsenal forward was once quoted as saying "when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005, I went mad. I was shouting so loud I think I woke up the entire village where I live!" I wonder if he will ever don that particular red shirt?
 

We cannot decide who's going to win the Ryder Cup Our golf boys haven't got a clue who's going to win the Kentucky tussle and have priced most markets as pick'em. What's your view? Click here for plethora of markets on the great event.

Want a £100 Total Goals bet? Refer a friend and you'll get one once they go on to place 5 bets, each risking £20. Use it on any live Premiership or Champions League match. Click here for more.
 
 
 


...avg goals in Stoke's
matches this season
 
 


...avg points in last 2 Bath v Gloucester GP matches
 
 


...avg time of 1st Chelsea goal in last 4 matches v City
 
 


...Pat's avg winning margin in last 3 games vs Jets
 
 


...Catalans' winning margin when they last played Wire
 
 


...avg points in last
two Aus v NZ matches
 
 


...% of poles won by Hamilton in last 7 GPs
 
 


...mins since Liverpool scored against MU in Prem