WE’VE reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup with ties split over Tuesday and Wednesday.
First up it’s Inverness v Ross County and Morton v St Johnstone with Wednesday seeing the tie of the round between Hearts and Celtic while Hibs entertain Dundee United next Wednesday.
Someone emailed earlier looking for a price on Celtic to win The Treble and it’s almost the same as Ronny Deila’s men lifting both cups and that pays 33-10 at McBookie. Of course it has a chance especially with Celtic making a mess of Europe but it takes just one poor performance in a cup tie to exit.
Tuesday’s live TV offering features the Highland derby and while Ross County are in better shape they’ve haven’t put one over their rivals in six meetings while the last five have saw both teams score.
Inverness are 6-4 favourites with Betfred but have injury problems and named just five subs in the 1-0 defeat at home to St Johnstone at the weekend. County, who are 21-10 with William Hill, also go into the game on the back of a defeat after crashing to Hearts.
The draw tempts at 21-10 with William Hill while both teams are 11-1 at Ladbrokes to win on penalties. With stats in its favour and a price of 10-11 with William Hill I’m going with both to score.
Ladbrokes will double odds on a first scorer if he scores in the opening 25 minutes so for example you can have County top scorer Liam Boyce at 11-1.
Scottish Cup winners St Johnstone face a tricky test at Cappielow but should come through. Morton beat Motherwell after ET in the previous but suffered four successive defeats before beating Alloa at the weekend.
One of those was 4-0 at home to Rangers so Saints should be confident. Tommy Wright’s men are 8-13 at Stan James to win in 90 with Morton 5-1 at William Hill.
Saints have won five of their last seven but kept one clean sheet – on Saturday at Inverness. The Perth men look value on the Asian Handicaps minus one at 6-5 or to win and both score at 5-2 at McBookie.
And here’s a cracking stat texted to me by Greg. Saints have lost just two of their last 25 to lower-league sides – Rangers and Queen of the South.
Recommended Bets
ICT v Ross Co btts
(10-11, William Hill)
St Johnstone -1 AH
(6-5, Bet365)
Meanwhile, are here some stats-based specials from William Hill’s Owen Scott.
INVERNESS v ROSS COUNTY (Tues)
To qualify for semi-finals
Inverness 8-11
Ross County 1-1
Miles Storey has scored in Inverness’s
only two home wins this season and
has accounted for half the goals ICT
have scored at home.
STOREY TO SCORE AND INVERNESS WIN 3-1
Scott Boyd scored in Ross County’s
last win at Inverness.
BOYD TO SCORE ANYTIME 9-1
Both Teams have scored in their last
five meetings.
BOTH TO SCORE – NO DRAW 2-1
MORTON v ST JOHNSTONE (Tues)
To qualify for semi-finals
Morton 5-2
St Johnstone 2-7
On-loan Swansea striker Alex
Samuel scored twice in Morton’s
win over Motherwell in previous round.
SAMUEL TO SCORE AND MORTON WIN 17-2
St Johnstone have won their last two
League Cup ties against Morton without
conceding a goal.
ST JOHNSTONE TO WIN TO NIL 11-8
HEARTS v CELTIC Wed)
To qualify for semi-final
Hearts 3-1
Celtic 2-0
Osman Sow scored a double in Hearts’
win in the last round.
SOW TO SCORE AND HEARTS WIN 11-1
Celtic have not lost a goal to Hearts
in their last six matches.
CELTIC TO WIN TO NIL 6-4
