Peterborough United’s dramatic stoppage time goals help earn local man £13,000 jackpot

Emanuel Caires (48), who is a Benfica supporter but since emigrating to England has supported his local club, backed both teams to score and Posh to win on Betfred’s Goals Galore Extra coupon.

It looked as if his luck was out as the match at the Weston Homes Stadium headed into stoppage time with Darren Ferguson’s men trailing Fleetwood by a goal to nil. However, in a dramatic turn of events, first Jack Taylor and then Sammie Szmodics netted for Posh to snatch all three points, Szmodics’ winner came in the 95th minute.

That 2-1 win was enough to ensure his £5 bet, which he placed at the shop near his home on Broadway, stayed alive, and when Arsenal went on to beat West Ham later that evening, his accumulator bet landed him £13,731.

An accumulator bet is where punters bet on a sequence of results with the odds growing after each stage if results are correctly predicted.

It initially looked as if Posh were going to let the father of two down after the first three legs of his accumulator had all come in.

He had successfully backed Everton to beat West Brom, he opted for Everton because of the Toffees’ new recruit James Rodriguez, the Colombian maestro who he remembers playing for Porto.

Next up, he successfully predicted Crystal Palace beating Manchester United at Old Trafford, he said that it was the Reds’ first match of the season and the visitors’ odds were attractive.

He admitted that he thought the Arsenal versus West Ham game was going to be tight, but eventually opted for the Gunners because of their recent good form.

He picked Luton to beat Derby because they were at home and simply couldn’t go against his own team, Peterborough.

He said: “It’s not a life-changing amount for some people, but I lost my job at a potato factory at the start of lockdown so this couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I was watching the results come in on TV and then it all rested on the Arsenal game which was later. My wife Maria and my sons went crazy after full-time because it meant I had won my bet.

“I probably spend £5 a week at Betfred and I’ve never won this much before. It is amazing that you can win so much from just a small stake.

“I feel on top of the world. It is a lot of money for me and my family. I’ve been out of work since March, so this will be very useful.

“We spent Monday celebrating at the seaside at Cromer in Norfolk where I got the Betfred boss Fred a stick of rock by way of thank you!

“We’ll also be spending some of the money on going back to Portugal for a family Christmas.”