Bairns back a winner - but bookies blunder

Nathan Austin’s header at the Paisley 2021 Stadium gave Falkirk the lead in Saturday’s SPFL Championship opener, but the stadium announcer wrongly credited Myles Hippolyte with the goal.

Several media outlets followed suit while others – like The Falkirk Herald – correctly credited ‘Fash’ with the goal. Bookmakers were caught up in the confusion with many punters struggling to recoup their winnings after backing Austin to open the scoring and add to his three goals in three games this term.

Bairns fan Marc McKenzie Templeman was challenged to send evidence of Austin’s goal to bet365’s online team who stood by Hippolyte as the opening goalscorer. He is still awaiting a reply but other fans such as Gregor Young were successful in overturning their ‘losing’ bets.

He said: “I had to persevere and would not take no for an answer, but after three phone calls and forwarding on the web link to Falkirk TV highlights, William Hill paid out at 6/1.”

The SPFL website have also retracted their initial first goalscorer and correctly credited Austin with his fourth in four games.

Paul Petrie, from McBookie said: “We paid out on Nathan Austin on Sunday afternoon when it was brought to our attention that he scored.

“We also paid out on Hippolyte on the day without knowing of the dispute so lucky for those that backed him.”

The bookmakers’ website states: ‘In the event of a dispute over the award of a goal for first, last or anytime goalscorer for betting purposes, settlement will be based on the scorer as reported by the Official Competition Website. A dispute is when the correct goal scorer is in contention and not an error by the match commentator or official website, in these cases the bet will be settled according to the true goal scorer.’

The Falkirk Herald also contacted Ladbrokes, William Hill, Bet365, Skybet, Paddy Power and Coral, though they have yet to respond.

The Bairns lost the game 3-1.