A Stevenage man has won almost £40,000 from a £5 wager on fourteen English and Scottish football matches across five divisions.

The Comet: Nick Lavranos has won nearly £40,000 on a £5 bet. Picture: BetfredNick Lavranos has won nearly £40,000 on a £5 bet. Picture: Betfred (Image: Archant)

Rail worker Nick Lavranos said he “just felt lucky on Saturday” when placing his bets at the Betfred betting shop in the Old Town.

The 57-year-old said: “I was in Betfred for about half an hour. I picked out some bankers and then went on my knowledge – a lot of the teams were favourites.

“Stevenage left it late and West Ham were drawing at the interval. The results were all going my way and that’s when I decided to turn the TV off and make myself a cup of tea.”

After getting all of the results right, Nick has won £39,130

His astonishing bet was kept alive by goals with three minutes to go at both Blackburn Rovers – where Bradley Dack’s penalty was enough to beat QPR 1-0 in the Championship – and Barnsley thanks to Kieffer Moore heading the only goal against Southend United in League One.

The other results in Nick’s bet were Everton beating Brighton, Newcastle recording their first win of the season at home to Watford and West Ham triumphing over Burnley.

As well as the last-gasp win for Blackburn, he also had Brentford to beat Millwall, Derby County to overcome Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest to beat promotion rivals Sheffield United.

Dad of one Nick had Sunderland to take all three points at Plymouth Argyle in League One, while in League Two he predicted that Lincoln City would beat Forest Green Rovers, home town club Stevenage would beat Oldham Athletic and that Tranmere would be victorious over Exeter City.

Finally in Scotland he successfully predicted Celtic would beat Hearts in the top of the table Premiership clash. That was a 5-0 home win but it was a much closer affair for Nick as the last result he needed to keep his accumulator alive was a 1-0 win for Motherwell against Dundee.

He said: “We’ll be paying some more of the mortgage off then we can have a holiday in Greece where I’m from. I will of course be getting both my daughter and partner presents.

“I had a few glasses of beer and vodka on Saturday to celebrate how very, very lucky I have been but we haven’t really celebrated yet. I feel so happy and my heart is still pumping so much.”