Gulliver and Travels

Hopperational details

Saturday 13th November 2010 at Crown Meadow, Lowestoft Town 0 Wealdstone 0 in the step 3 Isthmian Premier League.  I am here because darts player Phil "The Power" Taylor chose BROWN sauce on the sausage sandwich game (Suggs sitting in for Danny Baker again) thus avoiding Hednesford (Red) and Bury Town (None) for the moment.

This match in one sentence

Lowestoft hit the post and missed a number of half-chances, so Wealdstone fulfilled their ambitions and went away with a point.

So what?

Lowestoft stay 5th with two games in hand over both Cray Wanderers in 4th and leaders-by-six-points Sutton United.  Wealdstone are above the relegation zone in lower-mid table in the section for dogged resistance.  Their fans made plenty of noise and they too were happy with the point if not the performance.

Who caught the eye on the pitch?

I only just arrived in time – I swear someone has moved this place further east – so I spent the first half watching without having really identified the players.  I noted that both teams often played high balls to wide men who both had the ability to leap high and flick the ball on.  At half-time I found the teamsheet and realised that I had picked out the Forbes brothers Adrian (Lowestoft) and Kieron (Wealdstone).  There must be an obscure bit of DNA relating to headers.  Adrian seems to be a big favourite with the home supporters.  Jonathan North busy in the first half Other than that, it is hard to pick anyone out.  Lowestoft hit the post and Wealdstone keeper Jonathan North had his best moment in a busy day with the save from the follow-up.  The best thing by far about the second half was a spectacular sunset which made the journey worthwhile.

This match had the same effect on my pulse rate as …

… chapter 3 on ceramic insulator design in the I-Spy Book of Pylons.

A snippet from the programme

I liked the page with “An Away Fan’s View”, written by Clive Leaper.  “We’ve been extremely fortunate in one respect that we’ve had (Wealdstone manager) Gordon Bartlett stay with us through all the heartaches and soul searching of the wilderness years as we moved around grounds trying to find somewhere to call home.  He has consistently produced entertaining sides on a shoestring budget.  He has a fantastic reputation among his peers and is a legend!” This week's programme has helpfully got an action pic of Adrian Forbes on the cover.

What I learned today

The large local wind turbine is known as Gulliver.  He is lurking in the background, as you can see.  I think all energy sources should be given names – perhaps Dungeness B would have been more popular if we’d known it as Dave.

Modus Hopper Random Talking Point

Lowestoft Town is probably the most eastern club in the UK, which got me thinking about my personal hoppeographical extremes.  Blogging is great, you can make words up.  A quick look at the map suggests that St Johnstone is the most northerly in these islands, but KA Akureyri is both more northerly and westerly than Plymouth Argyle, which is also edged out as most southerly by OS Belenenses in Lisbon or Palermo in Sicily.  I think Palermo takes that honour by less than a degree of latitude, and it is certainly east of Lowestoft (and a tad warmer).