Ipswich Town are 12/1 to progress to the Championship play-off final via the penalties route, according to the biggest independent bookmaker in this country Betfred.

The Blues and Norwich City drew 1-1 at Portman Road last weekend in the first leg, leaving Saturday’s second instalment firmly in the balance, after Paul Anderson cancelled out Jonny Howson’s opener.

The Canaries did the double over Ipswich in the regular Championship season, but both games were fine-margin affairs and Saturday’s clash is likely to be just as intense.

There is also good value on the Blues going through after extra-time, without the need for spot-kicks, Mick McCarthy’s men being 14/1 to prevail after 120 minutes. BetFred, this country’s biggest independent bookmaker, estimates that around £100,000 will go through their tills from punters betting on this afternoon’s derby, while worldwide, bookmakers are likely to earn around £2m between them, a similar figure to that usually earned by them on FA Cup final betting.

A lot of the money is being put on Town’s 27-goal hot-shot Daryl Murphy to be first goalscorer at Carrow Road, the Republic of Ireland international striker being priced at 13/2 to open the scoring against the Canaries.

The first goalscorer bet is proving to be the most frequent, more popular than predicting who is going to win.

Norwich are 4/5 favourites to go through after 90 minutes, with Town 4/1 and the popular draw, after 90 minutes, 11/4.

Should Town go through, they will have done it the hard way as, prior to Friday’s game between sixth-placed Brentford and third-placed Middlesbrough in the other Championship semi-final, no lower-ranked team from any of the Championship, League One and League Two had yet won a play-off game this season against higher-ranked opposition.

A Betfred spokesman explained: “This is a crucial encounter between two proud rivals and we have taken around £100,000 already in bets and Daryl Murphy is the most common bet, to score first at 13/2.

“However, Norwich’s Jonny Howson has scored the opening goal six times this season and is available to repeat that at 9/1.

“The fact that no lower-ranked team has beaten a higher one yet in the play-offs also affects the odds put forward.”