Relief for Burnley shareholder JJ Watt as James Trafford's remarkable clean sheet run is finally ended by Cardiff City

The NFL legend got plenty of tongues wagging over the last few months after making a friendly bet with Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford.

At the end of December, Watt agreed he would come out of retirement and play for Cincinnatti Bengals, Trafford’s favourite NFL side, if the goalkeeper was to go the rest of the season without conceding.

Since making that bet, Trafford kept a remarkable 12 consecutive shutouts.

However, that run finally came to an end tonight after the Clarets conceded their first goal in 13 games during the latter stages of the first-half against Cardiff City.

At the time of writing, Scott Parker’s side still lead the game 2-1 thanks to goals from Josh Brownhill and Maxime Esteve.

Watt responded to the goal and the settling of his bet by writing on X: “I don’t like Skyline Chili anyway.”

Burnley’s run without conceding in the league stood at 1,132 minutes, which translates as almost 19 hours.

Speaking recently, Watt confessed he was serious about the bet and would go through with it if Trafford continued his impressive clean sheet run until the end of the campaign.

“It started as a little joke,” he said.

“But here we sit, we’re 12 games later and he hasn’t given up a goal in 12 games. He’s broken every record along the way. There’s only one record left he hasn’t broken in the history of English football, which is old as hell.

“It’s getting pretty serious. We’ve created a lot of Clarets fans in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is really cool. We’re getting a lot bigger ratings and numbers from the Ohio region, so it’s been really fun.

“I’ll do it. If he does it, which is insane, there’s 12 games left – if he does it, it’s insane enough and I’m respectful enough that I will absolutely follow through. I’ll go out there.

“Who knows if they [the Begals] even want me? I haven’t talked to them, but I’m in shape, I’ll go play.

“I haven’t even thought that far ahead, how do you un-retire? I never filed retirement paperwork, do I have to file paperwork to get back in? Technically I’m a free agent.”