Weekend Review: Late Rochdale equaliser rescues bookies’ FA Cup weekend
The FA Cup acca-backers were pegged back late on, while boxing traders enjoyed George Groves’ decision victory
The bookies celebrated Rochdale’s last-gasp equaliser in the 2-2 FA Cup fifth round draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday evening after a weekend of cup action favoured the punters.
League One’s basement club Rochdale equalised in the 93rd minute to seal an unlikely replay at Wembley after Harry Kane had put Spurs ahead with a penalty in the 88th minute.
Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “As is usually the case with an FA Cup weekend, it was a bit of a mixed bag for Kindred, although we can thank Rochdale’s Steve Davies for ending on a resounding high.”
Manchester United had kicked off the fifth round with a routine 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town to the delight of football bettors, while that result was Kindred’s biggest loss of the entire weekend.
Ladbrokes’ Alex Apati said: “Man United’s victory was to be expected, but Rochdale’s comeback made for a real coupon-buster.”
Rochdale earned a fifth round replay at Wembley Stadium
It was a similar story for William Hill, and the operator lost on goals markets on the Sunday.
“It was a decent weekend overall, Saturday was pretty good with Scunthorpe failing to beat Northampton, but Sunday wasn’t as good and would have been an awful lot worse had Rochdale not found a late equaliser against Spurs,” said Hill’s Rupert Adams.
The major sporting event of the weekend away from the football was the boxing bout between George Groves and Chris Eubank Jr at the Manchester Arena.
Groves won by a unanimous points decision despite suffering a late shoulder injury, and the result favoured the layers.
Apati said: “Eubank Jr was the most popular pick with punters ahead of the Groves fight, while a Groves win by unanimous decision was one of the least-backed outcomes in the market.”
Bet365’s Steve Freeth added: “Groves vs Eubank Jr turned out to be an extremely busy bout with many punters expecting a knockout.
“The unanimous points decision meant a good result on the props front.”