Curse Of The Red Card

A shocking day, from transaction number 1 onwards. The intention was to place a couple of bets early in the day, make my 4% target, and then close down.

Then our heroic referees took over. In a single day, SIX red cards directly affected my results, and I ended up with a ten hour stint trying to minimise the damage to my bank.

The day started with a lay of Murcia in their Spanish 2nd division clash at Hercules. Everything was going to plan until Murcia had a man sent off when 2-1 down. I decided that the game was up, so backed the Hercules home win. 10 minutes into the second half, Hercules made it 10 men per side, Murcia equalised, and I traded out for a loss.

I followed with a simple lay on the Portuguese clash between Olhanense and Portimonense ( sorry if you have a lisp ). Both teams concede little, so lay 'Any Unquoted'. An early red card for the away team, so again I traded out for a loss when a second goal was scored within the first half hour.

I then had a good couple of hours, and just as I was getting ahead on the day our Spanish referees took over. Again, I had layed the 'Any Unquoted' on the Espanyol/Mallorca game, but when a red card was given to the home team when already 1-2 down, and half an hour to play, settling for a loss again seemed the sensible option.

Simultaneously, an ill-advised bet on Malaga to beat Sevilla (£50 at 1.19) was partially offset before yet another red card did for me. Sevilla equalised within three minutes of the sending off, and another £24 washed away.

To complete the carnage, the PSG/Marseille looked ripe for an 'Any Unquoted' lay. At fifty three minutes and a 1-1 scoreline, no problems. One red card and two Marseille goals in ten minutes, and my by now frazzled head could only bail out once again.

The end result ( subject to me spotting anything interesting at Indian Wells ) is a (£63) day. These leaves my bank at £543, £34 ahead of the calculated £509 as at day 9 of my challenge. So I'm quite happy that I've survived today's calamities with my challenge intact.

Particularly having followed Alex at Bettingblog.org.uk, who was sunk yesterday by Liverpool at Old Trafford.