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possesion and dominance equals victory more less all the time . Last night though was a joke and it was an even bigger disgrace because when I saw that Advocaat had stopped messing about concerning his starting line up (he had been mumbling about dropping Arshavin thoroughout the day) and confirmed they would be at full strength , I lapped up the 2.9 and above that was available for a few quid ( the amount I had on this bet was alot more than I first decided for a reason I'll mention later.) It was also made all the more painful because we arrived at the bar five minutes into the match and the TV provider  here decides , in its wisdom not to have the score on display in the corner of the screen , so the only way you know what the score is in the immediate aftermath of a goal being scored ! So when Zenit forward poked the ball in the back of the net from a devine little cross from Arshavin we went up with our arms only to realise within seconds that all they had done was equalise - and from that moment onwards until the final whistle the world became a darker place.   Talking of the world becoming a darker place , you'd think life as we know it was indeed coming to an end if you'd been watching the business news over the last few days . Great timing by Blue Square then today launching their own SP returns. As if almost adding to the death knoll of free market forces which I'm sure will be further rubber stamped by the House of Representatives in the next few days once they sugar the pill for its members. Obviously we all know the on course market as a force died some years ago and Blue Sq have along with some other firms been creating their own shows for their betting site. And yes it's true the SIS shows can sometimes bear little resemblance to what is happening on the exchanges but I think for a (no disrespect to Blue Sq) small firm such as them to decide their own SP's is inherently dangerous. I mean , what are the factors that are going to influence them in returning a price ? The price on the exchanges ? the lidiudity of the price ? (I think not with this one because I get the feeling it doesn't seem to be that important during their early price fluctuations) Or the liability they have on the winning selection ? Hmmmm  I wonder if the horse at the top of their book will be returned 7/2 or 100/30 or 3/1 if  they have taken a lot of SP business on it. Imagine if all the betting firms out there started returning their own SP's , chaos could ensue . Ladbrokes return the fav 2/1 ; Hills 15/8 ; Paddy Powers 9/4 etc . Even if it is all above board (and I wouldn't want to suggest otherwise)  it's the perception that is the issue surely. Any punter today who backs a winner with Blue Sq at a SP that returns less than the SIS one is going to feel pretty pissed off and liable to cry foul - it harks back to the old huddle days when the suspicion that the price of a well backed winning selection was often shaved through influence by the big firms was rife amongst most betting shop punters. Interesting to see how it develops and I won't be able to stop myself keeping a  record of both sets of returns. And fair play to Blue Square as they have announced they will be showing a table of their SP's in comparison to the official starting prices on their site. Although the image of a gravestone with R.I.P Racecourse Starting Prices is a tad arrogant and they claim about choice and better value is surely dependent on individual cases ?   Right with that off my chest back to the stake I burnt on Zenit last night , this just sums up the game. Yesterday's racing was pretty poor fare and I decided to completely sit  out unless something came along that screamed to be backed. Although , as always , I consulted my internet formbook reminder and it gave me three horses yet all in the same race. The race in question was the 4-50 at Southwell and the one of the trio that raised my eyebrow the most was Mezzanisi - but this creature constantely seems to find one too good. The 8/1 was appealing but not alot. I decided to leave it. The other two in the book were Merchant of Dubai and Precision Break - 6/1 and 14/1 respectively. I couldn't bring myself to back three horses in a nine runner race so I decided to do the king of all mug bets - the combination tricast. I used up some shrapnel left over in one of my accounts and copped it for a couple of quid. So I was up 748.74 on the race and the day! Lovely, all was well with the world and my assertion the other day to a friend that the only way forward in this economic climate was to have it off on the horses had real validity and that was a good feeling. Then along came Advocaat announcing his strongest eleven. And my economic world descended into darkness.