BILLY BUNTER

Weblog: The football punter

Extra-time is nothing but a waste of time

THERE'S a lot to like about the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, not least the fact that they do without all that extra-time nonsense. Extra-time is just a waste of time as far as I'm concerned.

How many classic extra-time periods can you remember? There was a great three minutes at the end of Germany and Italy's 2006 World Cup semi-final when the Italians scored two absolute crackers but I'm struggling to come up with any since then.

Trying to jazz it up with golden or silver goals never worked, mainly because most spectators spend extra-time praying that there are no more goals of any precious metal because they want to see a penalty shoot-out.

I'm a penalty addict, I'll admit – I was buzzing after Mali slotted all five of their spot-kicks against Gabon at the African Nations Cup last weekend.

Not that there'll be any need for a shoot-out at the County Ground tonight, where Swindon are well worth a bet to see off Barnet inside 90 minutes. The Bees are picking up a bit in League Two but Paolo di Canio's Swindon look different class and I'll be cheering them on to carry their superb home form in the league into the JPT.