Football Bet of the Day: No ceasefire in Luhansk

The state of Ukrainian defences these days can be shocking to outsiders

Tobias Gourlay begins the week in Ukraine, where goals can be surprisingly easy to come by at the Avanhard Stadium

Let's not talk about Kevin. He's posted a profit in his first week and made everybody else's job just that little bit tougher.

And we've already had to put in some hard yards just to get to Ukraine today. Now that we're there (no, really) we're looking forward to a three-goal thriller at the Avanhard this evening.

Ukraine's answer to the Premier League (they call it the... Premier League) is only recently begun after a summer break. FC Illichivets Mariupol have been lucky enough to ease back into competitive action with a couple of home matches, which produced a total of nine goals.

Today, they hit the road for the first time, just as coach Mykola Pavlov's conditioning work starts to show dividends: at the back end of last season 5/7 away matches smashed through the Over 2.5 Goals barrier.

When they reach Luhansk, they'll find a Zorya team that's seen Over 2.5 Goals in 24/37 home games since some point in the middle of the 2011/12 campaign.

Most recently, six of the last eight at the Avanhard have finished with at least three strikes. The new season began with a 1-2 defeat to Metalist Kharkiv.

May it continue along similar lines.

Recommended Bet
Back Over 2.5 Goals @ 2.3811/8 in Zorya v Mariupol

2014 P/L (1pt per bet)

Staked: 7pts
Returned: 5.77pts

-1.23pts