Scottish Football Betting Preview: Rangers aim for first cup of treble

Scottish Football / John Girvan / 19 March 2010 / Leave a Comment

Kris Boyd is a good bet to be on the scoresheet in the League Cup final

"It’s no surprise to see St Mirren as big as [11.5] in the match odds or [6.0] to lift the trophy... It’s hard to see Rangers [1.29] losing."

Celtic can make up ground in the title race while Rangers face St Mirren in the League Cup final. There's also the small matter of the Edinburgh derby. John Girvan selects the best bets.

Celtic's 3-0 win at Kilmarnock returned nearly 6pts of profit after Robbie Keane opened the scoring [5.2] and his hat-trick meant Celtic cleared the biggest Handicap available, which was Celtic -1.0 & -1.5 at [1.95]. When playing the Under/Over 2.5 goal market you are often left wondering if you are better tossing a coin and that's certainly how I feel after going Unders at both Fir Park and Ibrox where there were four and six goals respectively.

Profit/Loss: - 4.88 pts

The first trophy of the season is up for grabs this weekend with Rangers and St Mirren contesting the Co-op Insurance League Cup Final on Sunday. This gives Celtic the chance to cut the gap on at the top of the SPL whilst there is the small matter of a live Edinburgh Derby.

Hibs [2.96] were third in the table less than two months ago and their spirit at the time was exemplified by a dramatic win from behind at Celtic Park. Fast forward to the present however and they have just a solitary win from their last seven. They were pegged back twice in last week's Scottish Cup quarter-final draw at home to first division Ross County and the fans weren't impressed, jeering angrily at the final whistle.

Hearts [2.64] have improved slightly since Jim Jeffries replaced Csaba Laszlo in January. Two defeats on the bounce doesn't read well but these were tough games at Dundee Utd and in-form Motherwell and beforehand The Jambos were on a run of three straight wins. They have only lost once at home since November so it's a difficult place to go and win.

Tynecastle welcomes a side with the recent upper hand in this fixture with Hibs unbeaten in the last six SPL meetings. Four of these have been draws however and the games have been a bit lackluster of late with neither side netting more than once in the past nine capital clashes.

Under 2.5 goals is the obvious choice at [1.69] but based on all of the above I see great value in covering both The Draw at [3.35] and a 1-0 win for Hearts priced at [8.4].

Celtic are 13 points behind leaders Rangers with 10 games to play. Betfair layers have them as big as [30.0] for the title so all they can really do is go on a winning run and hope the nerves kick in over at Ibrox.

On the whole, that's what they have been doing. The 1-0 defeat at Ibrox was a huge blow in terms of regaining the championship but this aside they are on a run of four wins and a draw from the last five. That's largely thanks to four clean sheets and another on Saturday can be backed at [2].

St Johnstone, however, are the top scorers in the SPL out with the Old Firm and haven't drew a blank in the league since a 3-0 defeat away to Rangers in December. No team has conceded more on the road though, so with Robbie Keane bang in form why not back a hat-trick in the match at [9.0] or greater.

Hampden is the venue for Sunday's Cup Final where St Mirren look forward to their first since 1987 whilst Rangers can set themselves up for a domestic treble. The Gers have now made it to each of the three League Cup Finals since Walter Smith returned to helm and since relinquishing the trophy to Celtic last season they will be keen to take it back.

It's no surprise to see St Mirren as big as [11.5] in the match odds or [6.0] to lift the trophy. They haven't won any of their last 11 league games and just four draws in this period mean they are deep in relegation trouble. The preparations haven't been helped with a bonus rift either and it's hard to see Rangers [1.29] losing considering they have been defeated only once domestically all season.

We should see a reaction from the light blues after last week's sloppy draw with Dundee United and Rangers -1.5 appeals at [1.91]. Games such as these require a cool head in front of goal so who better than Kris Boyd to open the scoring at [4.5].

Recommended Bets:

Hearts v Hibernian; Draw @ [3.35] (1pt)
Hearts to win 1-0 @ [8.4] (1pt)
Celtic v St Johnstone; Hat-trick scored? "Yes" @ [9] (1pt)
Rangers -1.5 goals @ [1.95] (1pt)
Boyd first goal scorer @ [4.5] (1pt)