Here we go, here we go

Monday afternoon was nicely profitable. Some unambitious, but successful, trading had put me about £10 ahead. Then I backed a favourite with the intention of laying it off in-running, for a small profit. But I got distracted and forgot to place the lay bet. When I logged back on to Betfair, I found that the horse had won – and I had trousered £32.

In the evening, I fancied lots of goals and corners in the Northampton v Leeds FA Cup tie. For some reason, though, I had more money on the number of corners than on the number of goals, despite the former being being less easy to predict and not going in running (so you can't cut your losses if it isn't going well).

My predictions were both spot on. There were 17 corner and seven goals. My profit on the match was £50, but I couldn't help but be frustrated that I hadn't had a larger total-goals bet. Still, a profit of almost £90 on a Monday is not to be sniffed at.

The following day, I did another hour of gentle trading during my lunchbreak. I was successful on every race and made £15. After work, I spent half an hour studying the form for the evening's football fixtures.

My only strong fancy was for Torquay to beat Lewes (1/4). But I had a few other inklings, so added Hartlepool (Evs) and Dagenham and Redbridge (6/5) to win, and the Barrow v Eastbourne (4/5), Lincoln v Kettering (8/11) and Rochdale v Barnet (4/5) matches to each have more than two goals. I combined them in fivefolds (£1) and an accumulator (£10).

At half-time, Torquay were 3-0 ahead, Dagenham were winning and there had been two goals in the Rochdale match. But the Lincoln game was scoreless and Hartlepool were losing at home to Brighton. Another near missed looked likely.

But it wasn't look before things started getting exciting.
47 minutes: Barrow 2 Eastbourne 0
54 minutes: Lincoln 1 Kettering 0
57 minutes: Barrow 3 Eastbourne 0
56 minutes: Rochdale 1 Barnet 2
67 minutes: Hartlepool 1 Brighton 1
68 minutes: Lincoln 1 Kettering 1
70 minutes: Hartlepool 2 Brighton 1

With Torquay 4-1 ahead and Dagenham leading Hereford 2-1, I needed one more goal in the Lincoln v Kettering match in the final 20 minutes. I sat with my eyes glued to the BBC website, imploring one of the sides to score. And then, just when the final scores were starting to come in, it happened:
GOAL Lincoln 1-2 Kettering: Christie (90+1)

As the final whistle had yet to go in either the Dagenham or Hartlepool matches, both of whom were holding one-goal leads, I logged off and went to bed. It was only the next morning at work, when I checked my betting account, that I found the sum of £413.82 added to my account.

So that's £500 profit in 48 hours.

Running total: ask me at the weekend