Portsmouth vs. Exeter Betting Tips: Rafferty a generous price in the fouls market

We have a full slate of fixtures in both League One and League Two on Tuesday evening, with Portsmouth against Exeter City being the live game shown on Sky Sports. The action begins at 8pm UK time and we’ve previewed the game and provided you with our two best bets.

Portsmouth opened their League One campaign with a 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers and since then have managed a 3-1 away win at Forest Green Rovers in the League Cup, before a commanding 4-0 win away at Leyton Orient on Saturday.

Gary Caldwell’s side have also taken four points from a possible six so far in League One. After The South West club achieved promotion to the third tier in Spring 2022, two clubs faced each other twice last season with the first being a 0-0 draw at St James Park, before Pompey came out the 2-0 winners at Fratton Park in January.

Most betting sites have only three sides priced shorter than Portsmouth in the League One Promotion market this season, with the South Coast club on offer 5/2. Exeter are expected to feature nearer to the bottom of the table this term, with a general 16/1 in the promotion market.

Looking at the match result odds for Tuesday’s clash at Fratton Park and unsurprisingly the home side are the bookmakers favourites at 10/11. The draw is on offer at 13/5, while a win for Exeter, which would be their first since 2017 when the sides met in League Two is available at 3/1.

With this game being shown Live on Sky Sports, we have more player proposition markets available than usual, especially over at Paddy Power and Betfair. One of those I’m looking to get stuck into is the player fouls market, where I think I’ve snaffled a nice piece of value. 

The player I’m looking to hone in on is Joe Rafferty, who is currently priced at 5/6 to give away one or more foul in the game. On his most recent appearance against Leyton Orient on Saturday Rafferty gave away two fouls and if we go back into last season, his last five foul totals in league matches read: 2,1,0,1,2. 

Rafferty will also have to help take care of Exeter’s Demetri Mitchell who should line up on the left of a front three. The 26-year-old has been fouled in each of his league appearances this term and drew 1.2 per game over the course of last season.

By using the Paddy Power Bet Builder feature, I’ve also picked out a little double at 12/1 which I think is worthy of a bit of loose change.

The first leg I’m including is for the aforementioned Joe Rafferty to give away two fouls in the game. Just as with the 5/6 for him to give away one foul, I feel the higher line of 2+ at 4/1, simply screams value. It is rare we see Paddy Power pricing people in this bracket nowadays in this market, let alone for a player who has had this selection land twice in his last five league appearances.

The other selection I’m targeting is for Colby Bishop to find the net anytime. Conor Chaplin (26), Jonson Clarke-Harris (26), and David McGoldrick (22), were the only League One players to score more goals than Bishop (20) last season.

The Portsmouth talisman opened his account for the 2023/24 campaign on Saturday with a goal against Leyton Orient. Several bookmakers including bet365, have Bishop priced at just 6/5 to get his name on the scoresheet on Tuesday, while both Betfair and Paddy Power go 13/8.

The price with Paddy’s looks rather generous in my opinion and by combining him to score with Joe Rafferty to give away 2+ fouls, punters can get themselves a nice 12/1 Bet Builder.