Luke The Layman 
/ Luke 'The Layman' Moore / 04 April 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Betting in-play on Gamba Osaka v Bunyodkor. The obvious way to spend an afternoon.
"But it didn’t matter to me, I’d already come out of my first In-Play experience with a tidy little profit. As the game ended, I realised that betting in-play is like a scary movie where you don’t know any of the actors or what they’re going to do next - terrifying but ultimately exhilarating."
This week Luke chanced his arm on some in-play betting on Betfair when those two giants of world football that are Gamba Osaka and Bunyodkor clashed in the AFC Champions League. Here's what happened...
I had, until yesterday, never seen Bunyodkor play. The Uzbek side were best known to me as being very rich, saying that Samuel Eto'o had signed for them when he hadn't, and then eventually signing Rivaldo on absolutely ridiculous money.
More importantly, I knew I would never be able to get the idea of watching the Uzbek League past my already football-bored girlfriend even if I wanted to watch them, and I didn't know anywhere I could watch them play anyway.
Well, as it turns out, you can watch them play on Betfair. I was trying to get my head around the mysterious, exciting, terrifying (for me anyway) In-Play offering on Betfair's site because I had originally planned to bet in-play during the Barcelona-Milan game that evening and I wanted to try and work out which markets would be best to focus on.
Bunyodkor were playing Japanese side Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League, and Betfair had the game available in a little box on the same page as all the markets available to bet (although it annoyingly stops every time you change markets which means you have to click 'play' again. I realise that sounds trivial, but when you're already smashing all the wrong buttons on the keyboard with fat fingers trying to bet on something quickly while it's actually happening in front of you, every millisecond counts). It's fair to say the game drew me in.
Based on the one and only time I've now seen them play, Bunyodkor aren't a very good team. They may have money, and they may be reigning Uzbek champions, but Gamba Osaka were pulling them all over the place. The J-League side were already a goal up when I tuned in and appeared to be on the verge of scoring another goal at any moment. It was becoming hard not to pile money on them in the 'Next Goal' market every time they moved over the halfway line. And then, quick as a flash, they were awarded a penalty, and I have never been so aware of my own lack of dexterity. I smashed the numbers 1 and 0 into the little box on the right above the video screen and somehow hit 'Place Bet'.
The next thing I saw were the words 'Market Suspended'. I had moved as quickly as feasibly possible, but it wasn't quick enough because of this odd ten second countdown that seemed to happen before it was matched, possibly designed to stop people like me taking advantage of it all. To make it worse, as I looked up Gamba went and scored the penalty. In the words of Dr John Hammond in the seminal blockbuster movie Jurassic Park, 'DAMN!'.
Not to be deterred I stuck with the game, which wasn't difficult as Gamba were knocking it about like a mini-Swansea. I came to the conclusion that there was no way on God's green Earth that they wouldn't score again. Bunyodkor just couldn't cope with their movement and Gamba were attacking relentlessly. I took the plunge on them to score next again and had £10 matched at [3.35]. As soon as I did so (it literally happened about five seconds after I placed the bet) the Japanese firebrands stormed through a non-existent Uzbek midfield and into the penalty area. As their striker was brought down I literally screamed for a penalty, an appeal which was instantly recognised. The referee probably heard me all the way from London. Rafinha, who had already scored one penalty, was poised to score another.
Now, there have been penalty saves that have annoyed me (every single Pompey penalty saved in the FA Cup Semi Final Replay v Liverpool, 1992) and upset me, (Stuart Pearce v Germany, 1990), but none matches the anger I felt towards Ignatiy Nesterov, a man who until an hour earlier I wasn't even aware existed. He dived to his right and saved well from Rafinha and I was utterly livid.
It took me a while to calm down before I was wondering why the Bunyodkor players weren't celebrating. Then it hit me. The referee, for what seemed at the time to be for absolutely no reason whatsoever, had ordered a retake, much to the chagrin of the largely hapless Bunyodkor defence.
Rafinha made no such mistake the second time. He rifled it into the top corner, and I was twenty-odd quid better off. If I was angry with Nesterov, I could have married that referee. I couldn't find his name anywhere on the internet, but wherever you are sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar (and possibly a terrible, under-qualified official. Like I said, I could not see a single reason for that spot-kick to be retaken), and I salute you.
It's lucky that penalty was awarded actually, because about ten minutes after it was scored, Bunyodkor scored themselves. A team who until that point had looked like they could have played for two weeks and never arrived in the same postcode as the Gamba goalmouth. They went up the other end and stuck one in, courtesy of a deft header.
But it didn't matter to me, I'd already come out of my first In-Play experience with a tidy little profit. As the game ended, I realised that betting in-play is like a scary movie where you don't know any of the actors or what they're going to do next - terrifying but ultimately exhilarating.
Week 5
Bet:
Gamba Osaka to score next goal against Bunyodkor (In-Play)
£10 at 3.35
Returns: £23.50 (before commission)
Current balance: £111.56
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