Our predictions this week were nothing short of abysmal.

But our friends at Wakuba, a subscription betting service (with some free content) did a whole lot better.

A bumper – nay lucrative – weekend for them, and therefore us, included backing Dortmund in the Bundesliga, laying both Arsenal and Rangers, and then somewhat more spectacularly Tim Cahill to score first in the Everton Game (playing as a makeshift striker) at 11/1, and previously, which made a nice end to the weekend, Chris Hoy to win Sports Personality of the year at around 6/1.

That’s the Christmas shopping taken care of then.

A subscription to their site for everyone…

Both English sides lost last night, but with contrasting consequences – Villa’s surprise 2-1 home defeat to Zilina did not stop them qualifying due to results elsewhere, but Portsmouths’ 3-2 defeat in Wolfsburg meant they could not progress.

Obviously lots of goals last night, which is nice, as thanks to our friends at Wakuba we backed over 2.5 goals in the Portsmouth match. They also gave us an under-the-table long shot of Zilina at 11-1 – we’ll be dining out on that for a while!

If you like tales of betting woe, read on… the other bet we had was the last goal in the Pompey game being after the 74th minute. Joy became despair/anger when we realised Wolfsburg’s third goal was during rather than after the 74th minute (73.25 to be precise – 35 seconds too early). Hope anew with the award of a penalty to the Germans after 81 minutes – only for them to miss it!

A profitable night nonetheless…