Keeping the faith.

Telford to draw with Tamworth at 3.25.
Forest Green to beat Gateshead doubled with Salisbury to beat Billericay at 2.04.
Mansfield to beat Cambridge doubled with Eastleigh (Double Chance) at 2.71.
Eastleigh to beat Chelmsford doubled with Dover to beat Weston at 4.85.

11 points staked. Accrued profit: 20.29pts

It's no secret that Skeeve has had a bit of a 'mare over the first half of Season 2012-13. I'd mentioned in passing that at one point the bank was feeling the strain, as no doubt, were Skeeve himself and all of his followers. I was, I can admit it.

But, and it's a big but, I didn't ever lose faith in Skeeve himself. My confidence was knocked and if the bank had been blown, I'd have had no choice but to draw a line and move on. I was dreading this prospect. Seriously, really dreading it. I felt conflicted - how can someone whose methods and sheer hard work I admire hugely and trust implicitly be perilously close to blowing the bank?

The thing is, and this is the reason why the horrible run had such a profound effect, was that going into the season, Skeeve was one of the two or three services that I consider real keystones of the portfolio. The track record of the service, gained over the period of time it has been operating successfully, demanded that it be regarded as such. And so to see Skeeve suffer like he did...it wasn't easy.

All of this explains why I was so delighted on Saturday when the results listed at the top of this post materialised. Pleased for myself, obviously, but really chuffed for Skeeve. And look, I'm not counting any chickens here. Next weekend could be a blank one. This is gambling when all is said and done. There is still a lot of work to be done if the season as a whole is to produce any kind of profit and of course, that is not a good situation for a service that lies at the more expensive end of the market to subscribe to to find itself in. But February's performance as a whole makes things look a whole lot better than it did, and I for one, am delighted.

Elsewhere it was a good weekend for Summer Of Football which found five winners from seven bets. What I really like about this service is the consistency in approach to finding the selections, and yet I get the feeling that James himself feels he is still learning and improving as a tipster. I may be wrong about that, and I don't want to be putting words into his mouth as it may not be the case at all. It's just the impression I have, and I like it.

The Football Analyst 7-22 couldn't have maintained the pace it had set so far this month, and indeed it dropped a point and a half on Saturday, although E3-E7 came up with a nice winner.

Not such a good weekend for Football Elite which hit the target just the once from five tips.

The racing wasn't great either, with the only notable winner being Northern Monkey who found one winner from just one bet on Saturday (Solar Deity - Lingfield - 4/1).

So the figures from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th are:

Northern Monkey: Staked 1pt, +2.4pts.
4PA: Staked 2.5pts, -2.5pts.
On The Nose: Staked 2.5pts, +0.05pts.
Winning Racing Tips: Staked 0.7pts, -0.7pts.

Summer Of Football: Staked 7pts, +2.83pts.
The Football Analyst 7-22: Staked 1.5pts, -1.5pts.
The Football Analyst E3-E7: Staked 0.5pts, +0.505pts.
Skeeve (Asians): Staked 2pts, +4.5pts.
Skeeve (Doubles): Staked 9pts, +15.79pts.
Football Elite: Staked 2.5pts, -1.235pts.
Trial service: Staked 32pts, +2.253pts.