LONDON • Sutton United's reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw is likely to face an FA investigation into a breach of its betting rules after admitting that he knew a betting company was offering odds of 8-1 against him eating a pie on the bench during the club's 2-0 defeat by Arsenal in the FA Cup.

"A few of the lads said to me earlier on, 'What is going on with the 8-1 about eating a pie?' I said, 'I don't know, I've eaten nothing all day, so I might give it a go later on,'" he said.

"Sun Bets had us at 8-1 to eat a pie. I thought I would give them a bit of banter and do it. All the subs were on and we were 2-0 down."

The FA's rules on betting state: "A participant shall not bet, either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on (i) the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in, a football match or competition."

Sutton have promised that Shaw will be brought "back down to earth" after his publicity stunt.

Sutton's chairman, Bruce Elliott, said: "If you knew the roly-poly goalkeeper you probably wouldn't be very surprised. But Wayne is a top man.

"I didn't know anything about it... the fame obviously has gone to his head a little bit, but we will soon bring him back down to earth, don't worry about that."

THE GUARDIAN