The Betfair Football £10 Bet of the Day
Day 83: We're backing over 2.5 goals in Northern Ireland and England's Victory Shield clash at [1.81]
Given that there's very little football taking place today and we've previewed Luton's FA Cup second round replay against Charlton elsewhere on the site, we're turning to youth football by sticking Thursday's tenner on over 2.5 goals in the Victory Shield tie between Northern Ireland and England, which is live on Sky Sports 2 at 7.35pm.
The Victory Shield is an annual competition pitting under-16 teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland against one another in a round robin competition and England have won it outright in each of the last four years without once tasting defeat.
Their chances of making it five in a row have been severely hampered though by the loss of their lengthy unbeaten record in their opening match, a staggering 4-0 reverse away to Wales, who had last overcome them in the competition in 1991!
England boss Kenny Swain will be fairly upbeat about the prospect of his side returning to form in Northern Ireland, as the hosts regularly wind up with the wooden spoon and have leaked eight times in their last two meetings, however they triumphed 1-0 over the Wales team that beat England last month.
Things are brilliantly poised as Northern Ireland need three points to realistically sustain a chance of claiming the trophy, while England realistically have to win too to keep their hopes alive, so rather than trust the visitors to deliver at [1.55], our money is going on over 2.5 goals at a tempting [1.81].
It's a regular feature of England games, occurring in four of the youngsters' last five fixtures, while both nations have found the net in five of their last seven outings.
Five of the last seven encounters between Northern Ireland and England have produced three goals or more too, including each of the last three held in Northern Ireland.
Our bet: We're backing over 2.5 goals when Northern Ireland Under-16s host England Under-16s at [1.81], meaning that - before factoring in commission - we stand to win £8.10. Sign up for a new account now and have losing bets up to a total of £30 refunded for a week.
Published: 9 Dec 2010
Anonymous (December 9, 2010 5:30 PM) said:
bold text should read "we're backing OVER...
Betfair Football (December 9, 2010 5:57 PM) said:
Great spot - cheers for pointing that out!