An Army chef has won more than �164,000 after placing a bet of just �4.

Squaddie Mark Simmons watched in amazement as the 18 football wins he had predicted came true.

Stunned Mark told the Sun newspaper: "It's a hell of a lot of money when you're on Army wages, but I won't be jacking in the day job - I love the Army life too much."

Mark's accumulator bets

Peterhead v East Stirling 4/9 home win Forfar v Raith 6/5 away win Dunfermline v Partick 8/11 home win Shrewsbury v Hartlepool 11/8 away win Rushden & D v Orient 8/13 home win Carlisle v Torquay 11/8 away win Swindon v Oldham 1/1 away win Bristol City v Chesterfield 4/5 home win Blackpool v Cheltenham 8/13 home win Watford v Brighton 4/7 home win Rotherham v Portsmouth 6/5 away win Millwall v Nottm Forest 15/8 away win Gillingham v Coventry 6/4 away win Newcastle v West Brom 2/5 home win Middlesbrough v Bolton 4/7 home win Liverpool v Chelsea 8/11 home win Arsenal v Sunderland 1/6 home win Man Utd v Everton 2/7 home win

Mark had placed �4 on an 18-game accumulator spread over last Saturday and Sunday.

He watched as game after game went the way he had predicted.

Finally it came down to Manchester United against Everton on Monday.

The 24-year-old was on the edge of his seat for 86 minutes as the score stalled at 0-0.

Then, with just four minutes to go, Paul Scholes scored, followed swiftly by a penalty from Ruud van Nistelrooy and a second goal from Scholes.

"It was the longest 86 minutes of my life," he told the Sun.

"I didn't know exactly how much I stood to make if United won - but I knew it was a hell of a lot of money.

"When Scholesy finally broke through I went absolutely ballistic."

The father-of-one, a chef in the Royal Artillery at Colchester Garrison, Essex, said wife Melanie was "ecstatic".

He placed the accumulator at Ladbrokes in Colchester.

A spokesman told the newspaper Mark's win was the "biggest ever" on an accumulator bet.

"It just shows you can win big even when you haven't staked much money," he said.