Diehard football fan wins whooping £9,000 from his daring 500-1 £20 bet on Doncaster Rovers finishing in top seven

Diehard Doncaster Rovers supporter Jack Hutchinson has landed himself a total of £9,199 after placing the wager on a whim following the club’s League Two game against Sutton United in February. At the time, Grant McCann’s side were languishing in 22nd place, just above the relegation zone and after going 1-0 down in the game, were just four points off the relegation places. But an injury time penalty gave Rovers a 1-1 draw – and since then, Rovers have gone on a remarkable run, climbing to fifth place in the table after ten straight wins and are now almost assured a place in the end of season play-offs, as long as they avoid defeat at Gillingham in their final fixture on Saturday.

Canny 27-year-old Jack, who comes from Worksop, decided to place his bet straight after the Sutton game – when Rovers were priced at a whopping 500-1 to finish in the top seven. He said: “The thinking behind it was that it would be a turning point for the lads and knowing how streaky McCann teams can be, it could be the start of a playoff push.”

Jack, a Rovers season ticket holder with his dad and occasionally his grandad since 2007 added: “I felt a sense of impending doom at the Sutton game. It felt like we had no chance of scoring and didn’t even look like scoring and we were looking at going down to the National League.

"Then Joe popped up with the last minute penalty. After seeing us score that and how intensely the lads celebrated, I thought this could be a huge turning point so backed it after that game especially when I saw it was 500/1 odds. Everyone I knew at the time at work and my friends laughed at me when I showed it them."

Since the match on February 3, Rovers have equalled a club record set in 1947, winning ten consecutive matches.

A thrilling comeback from 2-0 down against Barrow last Saturday to win 4-2 coupled with a 4-1 win at Colchester United on Tuesday catapulted Rovers into fifth. And although Rovers place in the top seven is still not quite guaranteed, Jack took the option to cash out on his bet – which would have been a total of £10,000 by Saturday.

He said: “I just hope they finish the job off now on Saturday, and the the play offs too. I couldn’t face the stress of gambling £9.2K on us getting a point for the sake of an extra £800 so cashed out!”

Sky Bet congratulated Jack on his win, posting on X, formerly Twitter: “Jack places £20 bet on DRFC to finish in the top seven of SkyBet LeagueTwo with the team sitting in 20th. “Bet cashed out with #DRFC sitting in 5th place with one game to play."