Ferguson, Rangers edge Falkirk

Soccer Betting Lines

02/18/2007 - Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers continued to play well in the Scottish Premier League, recording their fifth win in six contests on Sunday, a 2-1 triumph over Falkirk at the Ibrox Stadium.

After suffering a 2-1 defeat to Hapoel Tel Aviv in UEFA Cup play during the week, manager Walter Smith's men rebounded with a first-half goal from Kris Boyd, his league-leading 16th, and after Carl Finnigan equalized for the visitors in the 64th, Barry Ferguson secured three points for the hosts with the match-winner in the 73rd minute.

Falkirk keeper Kasper Schmeichel was called into action early in the contest, and did well to keep Rangers off the scoreboard. The best chance in the opening 30 minutes came for Feruson, who took a pass from Nacho Novo and blasted a shot on net, only to be turned away by a nice stop from Schmeichel.

Rangers defender Alan Hutton created the first goal with a cross from the right wing. Schmeichel came off his line to pounce on the ball but Boyd beat him to it, knocking the ball over the keeper's head and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Finnigan created a nice chance for Falkirk shortly after the restart, but a fine save by Allan McGregor between the posts kept it a one-goal game.

Minutes later, Novo narrowly missed putting Rangers ahead by two goals. The striker beat Schmeichel with his shot, but watched as it caromed back off the post. Falkirk then took advantage of the break and leveled the match in the 64th.

Finnigan found another chance for himself after working a nice one-two with Alan Gow. This time, however, he would not be denied, taking the return pass and firing past the keeper.

The hosts would settle for nothing less than the maximum points, though, and grabbed the match-winner in the 73rd. A free-kick from Charlie Adam was knocked away by Schmeichel, who then made a stop on Sasa Papac. However, Ferguson was in the right place at the right time and knocked home the rebound from close range to put Rangers ahead for good.

In Sunday's other contest, Dundee United and Hibernian played to a goalless draw at Tannadice Park.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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