Introduction

The average game of football has 1.15 first half goals and less than a third of all games are 0-0 at half-time. It shouldn't be difficult then to find a first half goal!

Of course, the market knows this so the price for Over 0.5 Goals in the first half is too low to back as a single.

Therefore, it's best to look for doubles so that you're getting around even money risk/reward.

You can't place doubles using the Betfair Exchange like you can at a bookie, so they have to be placed as singles at different times. I'll show you how to do that using the 'First Half Goals 0.5' market.

1H O1.5 bets are placed as singles using the 'First Half Goals 1.5' market.

As with the 'Half Time' market that's used for 1H Home and 1H Away bets, these markets have very little liquidity until the day that the match is due to be played.

While you can't carry out any research ahead of time, it's very quick and easy once match day arrives.

1H O0.5

Here are Paul's guidelines when looking for a bet:

At least 80% of combined matches should have had a first half goal
The price for an O0.5 double should be at least 1.90, ideally 2.00

Hereford v South Shields passed the first guideline and the price was 1.39. Ideally, Paul liked it to be 1.42 or more but he hoped that he'd be able to double it with a better priced second qualifier.

Live Value Shortlists tool showing qualifiers for Over 0.5 First Half Goals

Paul clicked on 'Hereford' to open the Score Table and then on 'First half score table' bottom right.

Below, you can see that the vast majority of Hereford's home games had not been 0-0 at half-time. On the right hand side, 2/2 home games against middle third teams had not been 0-0 at half-time.

It was a similar story for South Shields' first halves away from home, including 2/2 away games against top third teams that had not been 0-0 at half-time.

Paul backed 'Over 0.5 Goals' in the 'First Half Goals 0.5' market at 1.39 with a stake of £10.00.

You can see below that he had a liability of £10.00 and a potential profit of £3.82.

Hereford v South Shields 'First Half Goals 0.5' Betfair market

The half-time score was 0-2 which secured the profit.

A few days later, the Live Value Shortlists tool identified a number of potential qualifiers.

The prices at Dordrecht v Groningen and MVV v Telstar were well below 1.42 and not suitable fixtures to complete Paul's double, but the price at Lecce v Fiorentina was much better.

Live Value Shortlists tool showing qualifiers for Over 0.5 First Half Goals

The Score Table showed me that a couple of recent Lecce home games had been 0-0 at half-time, which was not ideal.

However, 4/5 Lecce home games against similar teams to Fiorentina had not been 0-0 at half-time and all 4 had been first half away wins. Solid stats against similar opposition is always a big positive.

As for Fiorentina, only one of their away games had been 0-0 at half-time.

Against similar teams to Lecce, 5/5 had not been 0-0 at half-time and 4/5 had been first half away wins. Similar stats to Lecce's home record and that gave Paul further confidence in a bet.

Paul backed 'Over 0.5 Goals' in the 'First Half Goals 0.5' market at 1.51 with a stake of £13.82 (his original £10.00 stake plus £3.82 profit).

You can see below that he had a liability of £13.82 and a potential profit of £6.91.

Lecce v Fiorentina 'First Half Goals 0.5' Betfair market

The half-time score was 1-0 which secured his second profit.

Paul's original £10.00 stake had become £20.73 which was a little more than double.

That's all there is to it. A little more fiddly than placing a double at a bookmaker, but better prices and no risk of a restricted account.

By the way, both Dutch fixtures had very early goals and would have been quick winners had the prices been better.

1H O1.5

Here are Paul's guidelines when looking for a bet:

At least 60% of combined matches should have had 2+ first half goals
The first half O1.5 goals price should be at least 2.00, ideally 2.50

Below, you can see part of the qualifiers shortlist for a busy Saturday. There were actually 37 matches on the list, but Paul was only interested in the 3 that had a combined average of 60% or more.

Puebla v Mazatlán had already been played. The Score Table for both teams looked good and it was 1-1 at half-time, so would have been a winner had it not been played in the middle of the night!

Paul's price guideline put a question mark against Sandhausen v Hallescher as it was below 2.50. That one was 1-0 at half-time, so a winner and a loser so far.

The remaining qualifier was Frosinone v Milan.

Live Value Shortlists tool showing qualifiers for Over 1.5 First Half Goals

Looking at the Score Table for Frosinone, Paul was a little put off. Less than half of their first halves at home had gone over 1.5 goals and, against top third teams, just 1/3.

It was a completely different story for Milan, however. The vast majority of their first halves away from home had gone over 1.5 goals, including their last 6 in a row.

Against teams near the bottom of the table, 5/5 away games had gone over 1.5 goals in the first half.

Paul backed 'Over 1.5 Goals' in the 'First Half Goals 1.5' market at 2.6 with a stake of £10.00.

You can see below that he had a liability of £10.00 and a potential profit of £15.68

Frosinone v Milan 'First Half Goals 1.5' Betfair market

A goal for each team in the first half secured his profit at a great ROI of 157%.

Betting 1H Goals

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