In a tight corner

I thought that I had unwittingly stumbled on the solution to my lack of success. A bet on Essex to win the Friends Provident Trophy (as an Essex Man, more an act of loyalty) came off, while my two short-priced bets on the Olympics were never in danger. And the first four teams in a football sixfold won on Saturday. Just steer clear of horseracing and I’ll reach my £10,000 target by Christmas.

So with a 100% betting record, a great day for Great Britain at the Olympics, and Essex and West Ham both winning, I was in cocky on Saturday night – even if Walthamstow dog track was ‘enjoying’ a last hurrah 10 miles down the road.

But pride comes before a fall – as Sunday so harshly proved. The last two teams in my footie accumulator were Aston Villa and Manchester United. If they could triumph against Manchester City and Newcastle respectively, my bank would be back to where I started a week ago. I thought United were a certainty, given Newcastle’s abject record at Old Trafford. But Aston Villa worried me a little, so I laid them to the tune of £20. Needless to say, Villa won comfortably, while Manchester United could only draw against a Newcastle side they had beaten by an aggregate score of 11-1 last season.

My main fancy for the afternoon was more than 12 corners in the Chelsea v Portsmouth match. I have a bit of a weakness for betting high on corners on live matches, but I genuinely fancied it in this game, with two sides committed to attack. When I saw the price of 3.3, I lumped on. Incredibly, the odds started to drift. Each time the price improved, I had another bet. By kick-off, I was in a position in which I would have made £100 profit if there were more than 12 corners.

I was feeling so pleased with myself when Chelsea notched two corners in the first six minutes, that I treated myself to one of their namesake buns. But by the end of the match, the corner count stood at 11, thanks largely to Pompey’s inability to even get into Chelsea’s half, let alone win more than two corners.

There was only one thing for it – have the same bet on the Manchester United v Newcastle game, but with a higher stake to cover my earlier loss. But the price was poor, so I had only a token £12. I was somewhat gratified that, according to the BBC website, the 13th corner of the game was taken with 20 minutes still to play. That was the last corner of the match – but a win’s a win. Or at least it is until you find out that whoever is updating the BBC’s site can’t count – and the total was, in fact, one short of my required figure. Even more frustratingly, on one occasion, the referee gave a goal kick when he should have awarded a corner.

I consoled myself with some trading on Betfair. I made a slight profit, but only 20% of what I had lost on the exact science (I don’t think) that is corners betting.

Running total: £760.18