Been working hard on the console all day and the main console is done. I will remove the beta wording next week and will concentrate on adding cards to the mini-console and then correcting any snags there.

Less games this weekend and so naturally less selections

Grimsby v Wycombe (English League Two: Saturday 3pm BST)

This is one of those games that you look at and see a team that looks good value to win so then its about trying to extract the value bet from it. Unbeaten Wycombe are away at winless Grimsby and the stat that sticks out for me is that Grimsby have scored just one home goal in 4 games and Wycombe are yet to let in a goal on their travels. Does that mean each that these runs are likely to come to an end? I am happy to go along with the stats and the point to Wycombe winning to 0 but the odds on this are just 3.4. Wycombe’s scores away have been 0-1, 0-2, 0-0 and 0-1 so I am happy to cover 0-1 and 0-2 with ½ a point each, especially as 2/4 Grimsby home games have ended 0-2.

++ Correct Score – 0-1 and 0-2 @ 8 (Ladbrokes/Stan James) and 9.5 (Paddy Power/William Hill) (2 x ½pt = 1pt)

Leeds v Brighton (English League One: Saturday 3pm BST)

After winning 4 on the bounce Leeds went down to Peterborough last weekend and then also went out of the Johnstones Paint trophy in midweek. Maybe that’s no big deal but they look a quite a short price against a Brighton team who are unbeaten away. Brighton are not winning many games but have only lost 2 of their 9 and I think Leeds name has an effect on their price. At Elland Road this season they have W2, D1 and L1 with the wins coming against Crewe and Hereford who have amassed one away point in 8 games between them. I am very tempted by the 6 available on Brighton to win but will play safe as the Asian Handicap offers a nice line and a nice price. Brighton can be backed at above evens on +0.5, +1 and I think it’s worth a bet as a Leeds victory by more than one goal is the only way we lose the whole point.

++ Asian Handicap – Brighton (+0.5, +1) on VC @ 2.08 (1pt) - 2.05 on Bet365 (no Pinnacle price available but normally it’s the best)

2 points staked on the weekend.

That keen to get the round up done I wrote this last night. A fantastic weekend and after being a little over 2 points down this time a fortnight ago two decent weekends have moved up to within ½pt of 10! My modest target for the season is 20 points and that goes a long way to achieving that. I am realistic enough to know there will be losing weekends along the way but this puts us in a very solid position and I am really pleased. This is my second year doing this blog, and the 3^rd year I have done corner bets and feel progress is being made. I will stop there as I am in danger of getting my own trumpet out. The other matches I mentioned as a possible double both lost so I got lucky there.

Atletico Madrid got hammered by Barcelona on Saturday night and that was a hard game to watch. Feel a bit let down by Atletico as they make out they will be the real deal and then  fall apart when the pressure comes, and they did the same at CampNou last season. Like last season they may go on and beat Barcelona when they are at home but it will be too late. They now have Real Madrid and Villareal to contend with and who knows what will happen. Sporting Gijón got off the mark with a 2-0 win at Mallorca and I’ll be watching them again in 2 weeks time after the international break when they play Osasuna and hope they can get more points.

The international break should be a nice opportunity to get some more work done on the site. I know there will be a few games but it won’t take up as much time as normal.

Back to the weekend andNewcastle beat Everton 5-3 on corners so that bet was easily landed. The big win was on the Derby game and I was out in the afternoon with my son and checked the internet on the bus coming home and saw it was 1-1 and had a glimmer of hope. These correct score bets are very risky but the reward was a 4.5pt profit as Derby won 2-1 at 11 (10/1). Leicester win again 1-0 keeping another clean sheet and the only non winner was Walsall who drew 0-0 at Hereford so we lose half a point there as half the bet was voided.

19 bets (17 points staked) :: 10 win – 1 void – 1 half void/loss – 7 losses :: +9.59

* This does not include the 2 antepost bets.

We have moved into a healthy(ish) position now and hope we don’t blow it all. Somehow this midweek I didn’t put on the bet for Leicester which was a shame but maybe there will be some losers at other times where I do the same.

I added the badges to the console this week and it was tedious work but there were quite a few that I liked and made me laugh.

These ones I just thought were quite appealing to the eye. Not sure how football related the Hamburg one is

The next batch we start to get a bit odd. Leixoes in Portugal don't even include a football in their logo but managed to find the only cricket back in Portugal. That Heereneevn badge must be a sixties child, Xanthi obviously have someone famous they are proud of and the inspiration for Billy the Fish can be seen with Lorient.

Animals feature prominently in many badges but some of these seemed a bit strange. Hereford have just gone for the Bull and I have no idea what the Wycombe duck/swan/goose has attached to it. Who in Catania decided they should have an elephant in their badge and the less said about the Koln goat the better.

A few interesting matches around this weekend and I’m looking forward to Atletico Madrid at Barcelona late on Saturday night. Barca have thrown away a 2 goal lead at home to Betis only to grab a late winner, then needed two stoppage time goals to beat Espanyol and Shaktar. I have no idea why they persist with the shocking Victor Valdes in goal and if you spend over €20m on a fullback surely the budget stretches to a decent goalie. When they play Real Madrid you can just see the difference that Casillas makes compared to the negative effect of Valdes. Also Messi has been slightly injury prone and they will be in real trouble if he is out. Atletico have started in the tunnel of death and have to get something there.

Onto this weekends games. Apologies for the lightly briefer than normal write-ups but time pressures dictated that.

Everton v Newcastle (English Premiership: Sunday 4pm BST)

Starting with a corner bet and we haven’t had many games so far this season but hopefully I can demonstrate good reasoning for this. At Arsenal Newcastle lost 12-1 on the corner count and that has skewed all their averages. In the other 5 matches home and away they have had 5, 6, 5, 4 and 6 corners. Everton have been give a -2 handicap to overcome and this season they managed that in the Merseyside derby (which is a game I am happy to exclude) and then equalled it in one other game. If Newcastle get the 5 corner average that their previous results indicate then Everton will need 8 to win the bet. Kinnear is in charge and really has nothing to lose and can get Newcastle to attack which hopefully will lead to some corners. If we look at last seasons result This bet would have been a win for Newcastle 55% of the games which is odds of 1.8 and there’s not a huge margin with the price on offer but I think Everton have a lot to do to beat that line.

++ Asian Handicap Corners – Newcastle (+2) @ 1.875 on Bet365 (1pt)

Norwich v Derby (English Championship: Saturday 3pm BST)

An interesting game as Derby seem to have discovered some form and are unbeaten in 5 and travel . Norwich’s home form mirrors that of Derby away with 1 win, 2 draws and 1 loss but the other interesting stat is that all 8 of these games (Norwich home and Derby away) have been under 2.5 goals. The stats scream 1-1 at me but that looks a bit predictable and something urges me to back Derby so am prepared to risk a hard earned point on this match. It’s a big risk but the reward is clear.

++ Correct Score – 0-2 and 1-2 @ 13 and 11 generally (2 x ½pt = 1pt) – 15 on Paddy Power and 12 on Hills are the best

Huddersfield v Leicester (English League One: Saturday 3pm BST)

I backed Leicester in midweek and am happy to do so again. Leicester are top with 6 wins in the 8 matches and the best away record in the division. As I pointed out in midweek their defensive record is great and  fact they have conceded just 3 goals in 8 matches (1 in 3 at home) is very impressive. Huddersfield aren’t bad but with just 4 points from 4 home games Leicester look good value. Draw no bet at 1.82 on Ladbrokes is great but I’ll take the win bet this time.

++ Match Odds – Leicester @ 2.5 on Stan James/Bet Direct (1pt)

Hereford v Walsall (English League One: Saturday 3pm BST)

Aside from having a naff badge Hereford have a made a poor start to the season taking just 4 points in 8 games. Walsall have won 5/8 games this season and 4 of the last 5. They have lost just 2 games and Hereford have only won 1 so if we plump for the asian handicap here of Walsall (0, -0.5) we would have had a winner 11/16 games, a loser 3/16 and 2 games that were half lose/half void. If you see it like that it has to be a bet.

++ Asian Handicap – Walsall (0, -0.5) on Bet365 @ 2.1 (1pt) - 2.14 on Pinnacle

4 points staked on the weekend.

I think Mansfield look very solid in the conference and a double with West Ham was the other bet I considered so will back that as well.

Good luck in whatever bets you do.

Another winner! A nice little run been put together and realistic enough to know it won’t last but the start of the season is all about trying to get a nice cushion between you and 0. The QPR v Blackpool game ended 1-1 and I had started a write up that was selecting 0-1 and 1-1 as the scores in that game. A shame but then earlier in the season there were a few games on my shortlist I dropped and none of them won so it’s all swings and roundabouts and at least I know I’m going in the right direction.

Not totally sure how Real Madrid survived against Zenit as the last half an hour was Zenit ripping them to shreds at will and creating chance after chance. They really are some team and be a shame if they don’t progress. Lyon drew with Bayern after leading but there don’t seem to be any other good opportunities tonight.

To recap Leicester won 1-0 landing both parts of the handicap and giving us a nice 1.14 profit.

15 bets (14 points staked) :: 8 win – 1 void – 6 losses :: +3.22