Just to be clear, betting on 25-leg accumulators is not always the most fruitful of decisions.
Football is so unpredictable at the best of times, but especially so at the business end of the season – when teams fighting for their lives can suddenly find a way to win games.
Even so, it’s always a joy to bring you stories of big acca winners; which is exactly what one Betfair customer pulled off last week.
They compiled a whopping 25-leg betslip made up of 13 Same Game Bet Builders… with their £10 stake offering a return of £27,354 in the unlikely event that every selection landed.
Well, would you believe it…
Lucky 13
The Champions League was our punter’s first port of call, with the all-important second leg ties between Liverpool and PSG – plus Atletico Madrid and Barcelona – on their radar.
As can be customary in these nervy second legs, the Betfair customer was drawn to the ‘unders’ side of the lines for goals (4.5), corners (11.5) and cards (4.5).
Each would land as the Parisians completed a 2-0 win at Anfield, although they might just have been biting their nails as the tenth corner of the game was won – ultimately, that was the last of the action in that regard.
The ‘unders’ were the name of the game in Atletico vs Barcelona too, although quite how that landed – given that there were three goals scored inside the opening 32 minutes – remains to be seen!
Nevertheless, the scoreline remained 2-1 for the rest of the game, while the red card shown to Eric Garcia was just ne of two occasions in which the referee reached into their pocket. With just six corners won, the second leg of the acca was in.
Two English Championship games were played on the south coast on that fateful Tuesday evening. Our punter expected a mixed bag in the key clash between Portsmouth and Ipswich Town, with Under 3.5 Goals and Under 5.5 Cards joined by Over 8.5 Corners.
Pompey’s 2-0 victory saw four yellow cards shown and ten corners earned, so that was the next leg in the bank.
Meanwhile, around 20 miles away at the St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton were running out impressive 3-0 winners to continue their fine progress towards promotion.
When the Saints netted their third, our punter’s heart rate would have increased slightly – they had backed Under 3.5 Goals. Thankfully, that was the end of their scoring, while their Over 8.5 Corners selection was comfortable enough with eleven awarded.
Nervous Nine
Although those first four Bet Builders had landed, there was still plenty of work left to be done for the other nine selections on this lengthy acca to come up trumps.
Some of the picks landed with consummate ease: Bolton thrashed Stevenage 5-1, smashing the Over 1.5 Goals pick out of the park, with the eleven corners awarded also getting the job done.
Port Vale and Barnsley’s clash in League One ended goalless, as did Mansfield’s trip to Leyton Orient; helping our punter to sweatless Under 3.5 Goals verdicts. Despite the lack of goals, those games saw whopping corner counts of 17 and 13 respectively.
Huddersfield and Cardiff played out a 1-1 stalemate, while a somewhat nervy end to the Wigan vs Rotherham game saw our punter’s Under 3.5 Goals selection just about oblige in a 3-0 win for the Latics. And their Over 8.5 Corners pick? No problem: Wigan won the corner count 11-1.
Into League Two and our punter profited from an extraordinary end to the fixture between Barrow and Oldham.
Having backed Over 1.5 Goals, the customer went favourite as Oldham went a goal up after 49 minutes. But, with the clock ticking over to the 82nd minute, it remained 1-0 to the Latics.
And then… carnage. Barrow scored twice in the space of a minute, Oldham equalised and then the Bluebirds notched a 91st minute winner – four goals in just nine minutes!
Under 3.5 Goals in the encounter between Colchester United and Accrington was no gimme either with the game poised at 1-1 at half time, but there would be just one more goal scored.
Finally it was off to Scotland for a pair of Over 1.5 Goals picks. A Queen’s Park red card threatened to derail the selection, but Raith Rovers were able to take advantage as they recorded a 2-0 victory.
Last but by no means least came the Scottish League One clash between table toppers Inverness and hosts Peterhead. The guests took the lead just before half time, before doubling advantage midway through the second period.
And that was that: 13 Bet Builder selections comprising of 25 legs ticked off. Not the most straightforward, but very rewarding for this punter nonetheless.