Gareth Southgate described the final stages of England’s thumping 6-2 win over Iran in their World Cup opener as “sloppy”.
But that didn’t bother new Betfred customer Rohan Singh, who was hoping that the Group B outsiders would stage something of a comeback.
Car room salesman Rohan, from Nottingham, was one of the few England fans nationwide who bet that the Three Lions would triumph by such an unlikely scoreline.
And when the Iranians scored from the spot in the 13th minute of additional time, Rohan and his pals in the car dealership were ecstatic, for the 20-year-old had a fiver on England to win 6-2 at 200/1, which landed him £1,000.
For Rohan, it was a double celebration as this big Manchester United supporters favourite player is Marcus Rashford, who came off the bench to score England’s fifth.
He said: “I was checking the odds on my phone, and I could tell that most people were thinking it would be a narrow victory by say one or two goals.
“But I just fancied we would get amongst the goals – and with our defence seen as a weak point I thought Iran would score too.
“I haven’t really had a chance to celebrate yet, but maybe I will when England win the World Cup, which I think we now have a great chance of doing.
“It’s England against USA on Friday, and for what it’s worth I’m going for us to win 4-1.
“What am I going to do with my winnings? Well, I’m probably going to get myself some new gym clothing.”
Betfred boss Fred Done said: “I wouldn’t bet against England going on to beat USA 4-1 in this kind of form, as this shrewd customer predicts – and that’s a 25/1 shot with us.”
“It’s remarkable that we’ve had a dozen customers who went with a 6-2 scoreline on Monday – but Rohan was the biggest winner, slapping on a fiver, so well done to him.”
