Goal difference

It has certainly been a topsy-turvy few days. I'd been doing a little trading in the evenings and had a couple of unsuccessful football bets, but was maintaining an even keel financially.

Then on Friday evening I had an absolute aberration. I logged on to Betfair to do some light trading. By the time my potatoes had boiled 20 minutes later, I had lost £95. I don't want to say any more, other than that I am going to be eating salads from now on, as they offer me a shorter window of opportunity for going skint.

Saturday was a day that I experience far too often. I spent an hour studying what little football form there has been so far this season and came up with three games to have more than two goals and three others to have more than 11 corners. I placed an £18 bet combining them in fourfolds, fivefolds and an accumulator. When I checked the results the following day, my three corners bets had won, as had two of my total-goals bets. The third had finished 'Hereford 2 Crewe 0'. It was the first time Hereford had kept a clean sheet this season and the first time Crewe had failed to score. Needless to say, Crewe had a goal disallowed. Another goal by either side would have won me more than £500, rather than the £30 profit I made.

Sunday was a reasonable day. I won a couple of corners bets and did OK on Betfair. But my backing 'more than two goals' on live games is proving costly. The plan is to back the outcome on each game I watch, while increasing the stakes each time I am unsuccessful to cover my previous losses and turn a profit. I'd already lost my last three such wagers, and backed Chelsea v Spurs (1-1) and Aston Villa v Liverpool (0-0). Unfortunately, I haven't got Setanta, so missed the Celtic v Rangers match (2-4). If I want to continue this strategy, I have got to have £100 on 'more than two goals' in the next game I watch on TV. If that fails, my next bet will have to be more than £200. If that goes belly up, the betting bank will be empty. Decisions, decisions.

Running total: £748.62