1 September August 2012 - City v QPR at Eastlands

The fixture list is a beguiling mire. Here we are, only three games into the season, and QPR are back at City for the fixture that ended last season and brought City the title.

Ben is back from his holiday and so we sat down with renewed complicity to see what Paddy had to offer.

It's unlikely that QPR will have much to worry City at home, and sooner or later, we feel, after a slow if solid start to the season, a good win is in order.

Paddy obviously thinks the same. The odds are all assumptive of a comfortable City win, so it's hard to find teh kind of 'longer than you'd expect' opportunities we look for. With £92 in our pot, however, we could bet up to £9.20, but we settle for £7.

Let's go for a thumping. We put £2 on a 5-0 win at 17/1. That would be nice in every respect.

Then we get really cocky and put £1 on the same score, but with Tevez bagging the first of them, at a mouthwatering 50/1.

What if QPR don't fold, though? There's 3-0 to City on offer at 17/2, so we pop £2 on that. And then we wait for teh team to be announced an hour before kick off. When it does, Dzeko is in the lineup. Now Dzeko may not be the best striker we have, but he does knwo where the net is, and he's scored alreadt this season. He's sharpest against slightly less edgy defences. We fancy him to do the business and stick £2 on him to score first in a 3-1 win. At 28/1.

THE MATCH

How perverse is football. City pull QPR to pieces in the first half, but take almost none of the cahnces they create. When Yaya Toure scores from 12 yards it secures a lead, but takes with it our two bets on first scorer and result combinations. With a 1-0 lead at half time, we now need City to win teh game either 4-0 or 5-0 to cash in on our remaining wagers.

Sadly, around about the hour, Zamora nets for QPR after a save by Hart rebounds where it's a matter of simplicity for him to head home. All our bets are dead. Dzeko puts City back in the lead a minute later, and then city squander a bagful more chances before Tevez locks it down at 3-1 in injury time.

A day of wasted chances to score 8 for City, and one that leaves Ben and I with £85 in our account. Annoying thing is, had Dzeko scored our first and not our second, with that 3-1 scoreline we'd have added a neat £56 to our account. Oh well. Paddy will be smiling tonight.

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Posted by: Yuri | 09/29/2013 at 04:28 PM