Championship Play-Off
Championship Play-Off Derby County v West Brom Booking Points Spread 28/05/07 15:00Poll Could Be Central To Championship Decider
Monday's Championship decider between Derby County and West Bromwich Albion is said to be worth up to as much as £60 million to the victors, such are the riches available to clubs plying their trade in the English Premiership these days.
As a result, it's likely to be a game where both teams will be doing everything within their powers to win, where tempers could be short and the tackles could easily become increasingly rash. Neither side had particularly good disciplinary records over the course of the regular season and both teams possess players who collected more than fair share of cards over the course of the campaign. The Baggies' Paul Robinson is particularly prone to finding his way into referees' notebooks.
Speaking of referees, this is set to be Graham Poll's last match prior to retirement, with a career as an after-dinner speaker allegedly up next. Poll is of course most famous for booking Croatian defender Josip Simunic three times during their World Cup 2006 clash with Australia. What better way to add to material than with a card-waving frenzy in his farewell match?
The Booking Points spread with Sporting Index for the game is 52-56, based on 10-points for a yellow card and 25-points for a red card (maximum points = 35 per player). Given everything that is at stake and the occasion itself, that might just be a tad on the low side and therefore warrants a buy.
