Not only did Fleetwood Town manage to force an FA Cup third-round replay with Leicester City by grafting to a 0-0 draw on Saturday afternoon, they also landed goalkeeper Chris Neal with a sweet -- or should that be savoury? -- bonus.
Massive incentive for @ftfc goalkeeper Chris Neal today. For every 7.5 minutes he keeps @LCFC at bay he earns month's supply of pizza. Wins year's worth if game finishes goalless. Sure to be mixed feelings from Fleetwood boss Uwe Rosler if that happens. Press treated to a taste pic.twitter.com/9Lw7Knf00h
— Carl Markham (@carlmarkham) January 6, 2018
Thanks to sponsors Papa John's, Neal had a wager in place that would see him win more free pizza the longer he went without conceding against the Foxes.
The Fleetwood keeper could win a year's supply of pizza today if he keeps a clean sheet against #LCFC pic.twitter.com/siisjaehKU
— Rob Tanner (@RobTannerMerc) January 6, 2018
Sure enough, and barring a late Foxes strike that hit the woodwork, Neal remained largely untroubled throughout the match, thus ensuring he ended the day with a mountain of pizza to his credit.
While Neal will likely be over the moon with his spoils, we don't imagine for a moment that his manager, Uwe Rosler, or any of Fleetwood's conditioning staff feel quite the same way. For their efforts, I bet his teammates will be hoping for a piece of the (pizza) pie too.
So as a professional footballer, does he eat much pizza?
"Not very often. It is not great for us but it is nice for games of this magnitude to get a little bit of interest from companies," Neal said. "He [Rosler] has not mentioned anything about it but I am sure he will mention I can't have too much.
"It is an added bonus on an occasion like this."