Shock Scots Win On Cards? - Betting Guide

Last updated : 27 March 2009 By Punters Pal
The Dutch are firm favourites everywhere, 1/3 being best price available at quite a few places. My thought is that realistically Scotland's best hope is a draw, a decent 4/1 at Extrabet, and Bet365 are offering 12/1 on the unexpected.

Better bets, and value may be on some other lines. Scotland are 10/1 to be in front at half-time with Bet365, maybe an early lead before blowing it late on? A draw at the break is best priced at 7/4 with Betfred, and you can get 5/6 with Skybet on the Dutch being in front.

One other interesting bet is to win both halves, ie lead at half time, and score more goals in second period. 11/5 is a tasty price for the Dutch with Skybet, 66/1 with PaddyPower is the best bet for Scotland to pull that one off.

First goalscorer will attract some attention, mainly because both sets of players are relatively well known. With neither van Nistelrooy nor Boyd playing (and both could have been quite short) it's an open market. Arsenal's Van Persie, and Real Madrid's Huntelaar are shortest at 9/2. Arjen Robben is a very bettable 7/1 in a few places, and Liverpool's Kuyt is also 7/1. Another couple of Real players, van der Vaart and Sneijder are at 8/1. It's hard to see where Scotland might score from, but Kenny Miller can be got at 12/1, Chris Iwelumo (no laughing) is 16/1 and Barry Ferguson is 28/1.

Some more unusual bets, but maybe worth a wee look are Huntelaar to score a hat-trick (28/1 with Bluesq), Sneijder to score from outside the penalty box (13/2 with Ladbrokes) or Scott Brown to get first booking (remember it's not a Scottish ref!) at 7/1 with Bluesq and 888.

Because it's a World Cup match, and live there are a variety of bets. I get most pointers on them from oodschecker.com, but if there's something you fancy, make sure you get the best price, and don't forget the betting exchanges.



England v Slovakia
My number one football betting rule is NEVER BET ON FRIENDLIES, so I won't be touching this one with a barge pole. That's not to say there isn't anything of decent value, but you really can never be sure how much teams and players will be putting into it. Players wary of injury at an important time of the season are not going to risk their club manager's wrath by picking up a needless injury.


England are best priced 3/10 in a few places, and they really should win. The Slovaks can be got at 11/1, and to be fair, that's not a bad price.

The First Scorer market sees Wayne Rooney leading the field at 4/1, Steven Gerrard is 13/2 at VictorChandler, and captain John Terry is 20/1 in a few places. The only Slovakiana I know are Filip Sebo, and he's not in the squad, and Marin Skrtel of Liverpool, who is 50/1 with a few layers.

The Correct Score market sees a few decent ones. 3-1 to England is 11/1 with Sportingbet and Ladbrokes, 4-0 is 14/1 with Ladbrokes, and 1-1 is generally 10/1

One stick-on is the 1/16 at Betfair on there being no sending off. OK for those of us with enough money to make it attractive, but too prohibitive realistically to touch.
As I said, I won't be betting on this match myself, but there are markets available, and possibly good money to be got.

For the other Home Nations, Wales are 5/4 with Boylesports to Beat Finland (11/4 with Hills). The draw is 23/10 with a couple of firms.

Northern Ireland can be got at 13/5 with Ladbrokes, quite attractive as we all know Poland have a dodgy keeper. The Poles are 6/5 with Bet365 and PaddyPower, and the draw is 23/10 with BetFred and StanJames.

One final word of warning on the internationals: Watch the kick off times!