Maths Lecturer tries to teach bookies a lesson

42 year-old maths lecturer Dr Andrew Briggs from Brighton has placed a bet of £10,000 on a draw at odds of 11/5 on tomorrow lunchtime's Southampton v Portsmouth FA Cup fourth round match and stands to take home £22,000 if correct. Dr Briggs, who lectures at Sussex University, won a £10,000 bet from Ladbrokes.com after he trumphed in a competition by betting on the fastest first goalscorer in the third round.

Dr Briggs said: "I think this match has a draw written all over it. With Harry Redknapp returning to St Mary's it is bound to be a tightly fought game, both teams simply don't want to lose and I figure that we're unlikely to see a game of attacking football. I'll certainly be looking to insure myself by betting in play during the game, I just dread a last minute goal that swings the result a different way."

Ladbrokes spokesman Warren Lush said; " It all adds up to a loss for us as we don't like to mess with mathematicians, they are amongst our shrewdest punters. We're sure that Dr Briggs will come out a winner however the game ends."

Chelsea are currently 18/1 for the quadruple. The Blues are 1/9 favourites for the Premiership, 5/2 favourites for the FA Cup, 9/2 favourites for the Champions League and 4/11 favourites for the Carling Cup.

In tomorrow lunchtime's south coast derby Southampton are 6/5 favourites, with Portsmouth 9/5 and the draw 11/5, while we offer 200/1 that both Harry and Jamie Redknapp are sent off during the game. Yeovil Town are rank outsiders to win the cup at 1500/1

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