Good news I backed Forrest to score a hat-trick at 400-1 The bad news? I’ve only stuck 50p on it
BOOKIES TELL PUNTER HE’S LUCKIEST MAN IN BRITAIN
Craig McDonald Cleaner Danny Hardie struck the bet of his life when he backed James Forrest to score a hat-trick against Israel at odds of 400-1.
But the football fan has admitted he’ll always have a twinge of regret that he couldn’t stake more than his last available 50p.
Danny, 28, has since found out the price on the Celtic winger’s treble with bookies William Hill was the same one for an alien lifeform being discovered before the end of next year.
The Celtic and Scotland fan said he’s now planning to use his £ 200 win to buy Christmas presents for his nine nieces and nephews.
Danny, 28, said: “I’m not much of a gambling man but I thought there would be no harm sticking on such a small sum.
“I didn’t think there was much chance of it coming up. I wish I had put a pound on it now but 50p was all I had.
“I wanted to put a bet on Israel’s Beram Keyal as first goalscorer as well, as he used to play for my team, Celtic.
“But that would have cost me a total of a pound and I only had 50p.
“The girl in the bookies asked me which bet I wanted and I went for the Forrest hat-trick.
“I thought it was too good not to go for at 400-1. The Kayal bet came up too but I am happy with my choice.” Danny, a cleaner at Leverndale hospital in the city’s southside, placed the bet at a William Hill shop near his home in Govan, Glasgow. He said: “I knew Scotland had to win and that Forrest had scored two against Albania in the previous game. “He is really on form so I thought if anyone was going to get the goals for Scotland it would be him. “I couldn’t believe it when the third went in. I was just ecstatic. The woman at the bookies said I must be the luckiest man in Britain. They said I was the only person in the country to pick that bet.
“I was even asked for ID as they thought I was under age. That was the cherry on top of the cake.
“I’ve got two sisters and two brothers and they have nine children in total – so it’s a lot of nieces and nephews.
“With this money I will be able to give them a wee bit extra at Christmas.”
Celtic winger Forrest scored all the goals as Scotland beat Israel 3-2 on November 20.
The Uefa Nations League win secured a Euro 2020 play- off spot for the national side. No Scotland player had scored a hat-trick for 46 years between 1969 and 2015 but there have now been four in the past three years. In addition to Forrest’s treble, Steven Fletcher scored two hat-tricks, both against Gibraltar in 2015, and Robert Snodgrass got three against Malta in 2016.
William Hill said: “It’s a quite incredible wager. We certainly weren’t expecting James Forrest – or any Scottish player – to score a hat-trick. That’s why the price of him bagging three was the same price it currently is that aliens are proven to exist before the end of next year.”