Weekend Review: Rice and Grealish craic Ireland’s defence in Carsley’s England bow

England (1/2) beat the Republic of Ireland 2-0 in Dublin as interim manager Lee Carsley got his tenure off to a winning start. 

Former Republic of Ireland international Declan Rice opened the scoring for the away side in the Nations League B fixture, before former Irish youth international Jack Grealish added to England’s tally in the first half. 

Both players were routinely booed by a vocal home crowd all game, with their inclusion on the scoresheet rubbing more salt into Irish wounds.

Elsewhere, Scotland suffered back-to-back defeats across Nations League action. After losing 3-2 at home to Poland (11/5), Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo completed a turnaround for Portugal (1/4) who ran out 2-1 winners against the Scots.

Rounding out the home nations, Wales (7/4) managed a 0-0 draw against 10-man Turkey (8/5), while Northern Ireland (13/20) ran out 2-0 winners at home to Luxembourg. 

European champions Spain (13/20) won 4-1 away at Switzerland despite La Roja playing much of the game with 10 men. 

Germany (1/4) and the Netherlands (1/6) both put five goals past Hungary and Bosina and Herzegovina, respectively, while Italy (5/1) beat Kylian Mbappe’s odds-on France side 3-1 in their own backyard. 

One of the most surprising Nations League results saw minnows San Marino (21/10) record their first win since 2004 – making it the second victory in their history – beating fellow diminutive nation Liechtenstein 1-0. 

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill remarked on a tough weekend of results for bookmakers. He said: “It was a rough weekend in the Nations League as punters had an absolute field day. Portugal’s late, late winner over Scotland, from the goal machine himself, was about the worst thing we could see. 

“But, that wasn’t even the worst overall result, as the goal-fest that was the Netherlands win over Bosnia was very comfortably our worst overall result of the whole weekend, while Spain’s 4-1 win over Switzerland was another that hurt the bottom line. 

“England, Germany, Sweden and Denmark all added to the pain, as almost any popular acca you could think of also landed.”

Meanwhile, in cricket, England left themselves with work to do in their Test match against Sri Lanka at The Oval. 

England closed on 325 all out, leaving Sri Lanka needing 125 runs to win with nine wickets remaining. 

In horseracing, there was a pleasing result for the layers in the Haydock Sprint Cup Stakes, as the 25/1 outsider Montassib landed the six-furlong contest.

Trained by William Haggas and ridden by Cieren Fallon, Montassib held on to win by a head from King of Blue at 14/1, while 5/2 favourite Inisherin finished well beaten in 13^th.

Holloway Boy took the Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Superior Mile Stakes at odds of 7/2, outlasting 100/30 favourite Prague, while 3/1 favourite Master Builder claimed victory in the Betfair Plays Different Handicap, ridden home by William Buick.

At Ascot, Grey’s Monument (10/1) won in the bet365 Handicap, while The Reverand (4/1) emerged victorious in the Chapel Down Handicap.

Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “A tough weekend on the racing front with plenty of well-backed winners, including two of Fred’s morning pushes scoring at Haydock – Shagraan offered at 9/2 and Master Builder at 7/2.

“Great result in the big Group One sprint, though, with Montassib springing a 25/1 surprise from a 14/1 shot, with a 12/1 chance in third.”

One Betfred shop punter was celebrating on Saturday night after all six legs from a 50p Lucky 63 at Ascot and Haydock hit, netting the customer more than £33,000.

“It’s an enviable war chest should he or she wish to play at Doncaster this week,” Firkins commented.