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Finally, along came a quiet weekend where I could watch the early match on Saturday and strike some In-Play bets down at bet365. It was a rollercoaster ride, especially with some highly unusual results!

Portsmouth v Liverpool was the lunchtime kick-off, with bet365 going 8/13 about the visitors before the match kicks off. Pompey look an attractive bet at 5/1, although will they be even bigger when the game starts? Last season’s fixture between these teams finished 3-2, although all the goals were scored in the second-half, so I’ll be thinking about an Over 2.5 Goals bet if the odds start to drift above even money.

Thirteen minutes gone and it’s been a cagey match. Liverpool have forced corners in the 11th and 12th minute and bet365 now offer 1/14 about the Reds in the race to 5 corners market. With Portmouth playing only one man up front, they appear to have set up to try and contain their opponents. The draw on the half-time result market has gone into 4/5, with Avram Grant’s team looking as though they would be happy to get to the interval with the match all square.

Half an hour gone at Fratton Park and still not much happening. It’s a game where both teams seem preoccupied with not conceding, with Fernando Torres and Frederic Piquionne cutting isolated figures for their respective teams. The Reds have now drifted to 8/11 with bet365 and those that think Liverpool will win might be waiting until they hit even money. Meanwhile, Pompey have clawed it back on the corners battle and it’s now three apiece. They had been 10/1 not so long ago!

After 35 mins, Avram Grant’s team find the breakthrough and bet365 cut their match odds to 6/5. The draw is available at 2/1 and Liverpool are 5/2, although the Reds look demoralised by falling behind and it’s the home team who are pressing forward. As half-time approaches, it gets even worse for the visitors and all markets are suspended after Javier Mascherano’s reckless challenge on Tal Ben Haim. You can almost hear the traders frantically working with their calculators to price up the latest markets and Portsmouth are now 1/2 with bet365 to win the match. Liverpool have gone from a pre-match 8/13 to an In-Play 7/1, with the Reds having to reshape after the loss of their midfielder.

The game continues to drift away from Liverpool in the second half, with Pompey available at 2/5 in the 56th minute, 1/3 in the 64th minute and 1/4 in the 76th minute. The Reds simply don’t look like scoring and Frederic Piquionne puts them out of their misery in the 82nd minute.

It just goes to show that it often pays to go against the grain, especially as Liverpool rarely threatened when they went 1-0 down at Fratton Park, although the home team could be backed at odds-against until Javier Mascherano was sent off. Click here to check out the latest In-Play markets at bet365.