Going for Goals

A quick quiz question for you – What have Doncaster Rovers, Hereford, Lecce, Newcastle, Nuneaton Borough, and Shakhtar Donetsk got in common?

The answer is, of course, that they have, at various different times in the past two years, stopped me from landing a sizeable payout from a Both Teams To Score accumulator.

Don’t let my ‘misfortune’ put you off this brilliant bet though. It is absolutely addictive, and watching Soccer Saturday without a Both Teams To Score bet is like being given a free pass to your local for the weekend only to find that all the barrels are empty.

Even a side 4-0 down after an hour still has a great chance of getting the one goal you need to turn a losing wager into a winning one, although Sweden took this concept a little too far on Tuesday night in Berlin.

I’m not sure what the real career highlight of Northampton’s Adebayo Akinfenwa is, but to me he will always be a legend for his 95th minute goal against Rotherham in their last ever game at the Don Valley stadium.

To most people, Craig Bellamy is an obnoxious Welsh buffoon. In my eyes, the man is all about his injury time equaliser at Burnley in a game probably even hazier in the memories of Bluebird (Redbird?) fans than every Saturday night out they have.

And while Stockport County fans were crying tears by the bucket-load in May 2011 about the end of 105 years of league football, I was punching the air like a lunatic at news of Greg Tansey converting a last minute penalty for them against Cheltenham, a goal scored well after 5pm just to add to my elation.

For those not familiar with this bet, it’s very simple. All the intrepid punter has to do is pick a match where they believe both teams will score. For the vast majority of firms, prices for singles generally range from 8/15 to around the 10/11 mark, but can be shorter or longer in exceptional circumstances. Selections can be combined as doubles, trebles, four-folds, etc. The more selections, the bigger the rewards, although obviously landing the spoils becomes progressively more difficult with the more teams that are added.

When he’s not busy buying the Tote or telling us he doesn’t know why we would bet with anyone else, Fred Done continues to offer punters an even better deal with this wager. He doesn’t price up the games individually, but offers fixed odds for trebles and upwards. This regularly offers great dollops of value, despite his annoying habit of leaving games with particularly high goal expectations off his coupons.

Regular readers of this column will no doubt see the same teams cropping up in our weekly recommended bets. I make no apology for this. While a well organised defence is a great asset if you are having a bet on that particular team to win the game, in the world of BTTS it is useless. Goals are what we are after, so teams with Ossie Ardiles as defensive coach or Gary Sprake-type custodians are the order of the day. In the current game, that equates to the likes of Blackpool, Leeds & Peterborough; teams that not only bang in the goals but leave the back door ajar for their opponents to do likewise.

BTTS treble of Norwich v Arsenal, Burnley v Blackpool and Tranmere v Bournemouth pays 7/2

The most high profile free-scoring side with a dodgy back line has to be Arsenal. They are at Norwich for the Sky Saturday tea-time game this weekend. An away goal is an absolute cert against a defence as leaky as one of Delia’s sieves, and while the Canaries have yet to win on their return to the top flight, they have already notched against Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea, and are fancied to have no problems netting against the Gunners’ third choice stopper.

Burnley may have recently misplaced their manager, but there have been 23 goals in the five Championship matches at Turf Moor this term, while our perennial friends Blackpool are averaging two a game.

The two meet in another tea-time clash on Saturday, and while the price is on the skinny side, it’s still value as leg two of our treble.

The wager is completed by League One leaders Tranmere who, like Eddie Howe, will be making the trip from the north-west to the south coast, to play under-achieving Bournemouth.

The home side may still be in the relegation zone, but they were much improved in beating Leyton Orient at the weekend, and can do enough to trouble Rovers’ defence. Ronnie Moore’s men, meanwhile, are averaging 2.5 goals a game, which is precisely the sort of goal-grabbing prowess we are after.

BTTS treble of Norwich v Arsenal, Burnley v Blackpool and Tranmere v Bournemouth pays 7/2

Predictably, none of these games feature on Betfred’s Bonus Coupon, which pays 9/2 for a winning treble.

A whopping 63% of Championship games so far this season have featured both teams scoring, so we’ll take a punt on the games at Birmingham (v Leicester), Bolton (v Bristol City) and Crystal Palace (v Millwall) featuring goals at both ends, and add in the clash between recent second tier outfits Preston and Sheffield United to make a tasty 9/1 four-fold as our more exotic tip. 

BTTS four-fold of Birmingham v Leicester, Bolton v Bristol City, Crystal Palace v Millwall and Preston v Sheff Utd pays 9/1