North Ferribeaten at Home

"... yet stands the church clock at 4.03, and is there any sugar for t'tea, love?"

Halifax won the flags-and-banners contest too

James Dean (9) prepares to be a nuisance in the box again

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 29 January 2011 at the Rapid Solicitors Stadium
Result	North Ferriby United 0 Halifax Town 3
Competition	Northern Premier League (step 3)
Hopping	Venue #369, I am here because of a lucky roll of two dice, lucky because many of the other fixtures on the shortlist were postponed.  This is the second time I have seen Halifax Town win without conceding this season.
This match in one sentence
Halifax scored at the right times to secure a very impressive and straightforward result in a potentially tricky fixture.
This match summed up in the alleged style of: Baron Prescott of Kingston-upon-Hull
The locals received a ranning, er, I mean a right tanning … and I would like to congratulate the honourable gentlemen from Hollyfox on their victory.
So what?
Halifax Town take another purposeful step towards this title and the Conference North on their road to recovery.  Their 15-point lead looks unassailable, especially with a game in hand over Colwyn Bay and many more goals in the “For” column than anyone else.  North Ferriby remain in the play-off zone in fourth position and they still have plenty to play for this season.
The drama unfolds
After a delayed kickoff to allow the long queues of spectators to get in, Halifax took the lead in the first minute.  A cross from James Dean was put away by Jamie Vardy.  0-1.  They went on to dominate most of the first half, in the manner of this first clip. North Ferriby had a couple of half-chances but Halifax’s Lee Gregory was also very close to scoring.  James Dean was a thorough nuisance to the home defence throughout the half. The second goal also came at a vital moment.  In first-half stoppage time, Gregory was able to turn and shoot for a deserved goal.  0-2 at half time. The second goal is celebrated in the traditional manner The goal of the day came from Vardy in the 56th minute as he finished superbly at the end of a great run.  0-3.  North Ferriby’s Ben Morley picked up a second yellow for an attempted tackle on Vardy and the game petered out with the visitors in the ascendancy.  Plaintive despairing calls of "Deano, set .. set" were heard periodically as the otherwise impressive #9 sometimes tried harder things when he had teammates in space.  Vardy was man-of-the-match - again.  Final score 0-3.
Alternative activity of equal excitement for tourists in North Ferriby
Trainspotting … Halifax supporters won’t agree, of course – they turned up in large numbers and were delighted with their team’s dominant performance.  For me as a passing neutral, this was an anti-climax of a match, and the result was never in doubt.  North Ferriby had been by all accounts the best team seen at The Shay and the only ones to leave Halifax with the points.  They had won their last home fixture 4-0.  The early goal killed the gameplan and the 46th minute goal ripped up the half-time team talk, I guess. By the way, the train is an oldish DMU (diesel multiple unit) of some description, but I am resisting the temptation to find out exactly which sort in case I get terminally interested.
A snippet from the programme
Good job I arrived early – they ran out!  The home fans definitely needed the “Half Time Humour” page.  It included an alleged quote from Bill Shankly which is always worth repeating: “Of course I didn’t take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present.  It was her birthday and would I have got married during the football season?  Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.”
What I learned today
From “You are the Referee” in the programme: “It’s a last minute penalty to the away side who are 3-0 down but none of their players are prepared to take it as they say you have been so biased there is no point.  What do you do? – Call the side’s captain to you and ask him to tell you who will be taking the penalty kick.  If he refuses to do this, show him a yellow card for delaying the restart.  If he still refuses, show him a second yellow, followed by a red.  Abandon the game and report the full facts to the authorities.”
Something random
The name Ferriby derives from a Danish word, ferja, meaning what we now call a ferry.  The ferry in question went to, wait for it, South Ferriby, on the other bank of the Humber estuary.
What Next?
Something on Tuesday night, but too early to say.

A 2D6 Decision

Let's do the math (old habits etc etc) ...


When two traditional 6-sided dice are rolled and totalled, there are 36 (6x6) possible combinations adding up to totals from 2 to 12.  However, 2 and 12 are the least likely totals because there is only one way of getting there … 1+1 or 6+6.  The most likely total is 7 because there are six possible ways of making it.  6 out of 36 is a probability of 16.7% (to the nearest 0.1).  The colours in the chart show why this is, and the eleven possible outcomes are matched to eleven chosen fixtures below.

This is where groundhopping comes into its own – it is always possible to choose a game that means something in the context of the season.  I’ve put games where both teams are involved in promotion or relegation fights for the most likely outcomes, or the mid-table or lower level games as least likely.  I really do want to go to Workington soon, but not necessarily for this particular fixture!

	Die 2 v
Die 1          >		1		2		3		4		5		6
	1	2		3		4		5		6		7
	2	3		4		5		6		7		8
	3	4		5		6		7		8		9
	4	5		6		7		8		9		10
	5	6		7		8		9		10		11
	6	7		8		9		10		11		12

Total on 2xd6	Chance	Game
2	2.8%	Workington v Worcester City (mid table, Conference N)
3	5.6%	Ashton U v Nantwich T (mid table, Northern Premier)
4	8.3%	Stocksbridge PS v Burscough (17v12, Northern Premier)
5	11.1%	North Ferriby U v Halifax T (4v1, Northern Premier)
6	13.9%	Colwyn Bay v Matlock T (2v3, Northern Premier)
7	16.7%	Tonbridge A v Lowestoft (6v4, Isthmian Premier)
8	13.9%	Stourbridge v Salisbury C (5v2, Southern Premier)
9	11.1%	Croydon A v Bury T (22v2, Isthmian Premier)
10	8.3%	Hastings U v Canvey I (19v10, Isthmian Premier)
11	5.6%	Frickley v FC United (20v13, Northern Premier)
12	2.8%	Bognor Regis T v Met Police (3v1, step 4)

So where am I going?

Enfield Runway Ends at Stansted

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Tuesday 25 January 2011 at Hargrave Park
Result	Stansted 2  Enfield 1
Competition	Essex Senior League (step 5)
Hopping	Venue #368, and here because I could get through by telephone to check that the game had not been postponed on a very wet evening.
This match in one sentence
All three goals came in the first half of a keenly-contested game which threatened to boil over at times, and Enfield will be annoyed to have dropped points here.
This match summed up in the style of: most players, coaches and managers of both sides
Refffffffff!  Refffffffff!  Ref!  I got the ball! He got the ball! Refffffffff!  Help ‘im out, lino!  Reffffffffffffff!  Ref!  Handball!  Ref!  Reffffffffffff!  Didn’t you see that? You’re ‘avin’ a laff!  Ref!  Reffffffff!  You booking me for that???  I got the ball! He got the ball, ref!  Lino!!!!  How can I be offside?  He was on, lino! Ref! Reffffffffffffff! Lino! Reffff! etc etc (ad nauseam for ninety minutes or so)
So what?
Current reigning league champions Stansted started the night in 4th place, 12 points behind their table-topping visitors but with 5 games in hand.  They of course still have the 5 games, and have reduced the deficit to 9 points.  The games in hand are because of an excellent run in the FA Vase, where they have a home tie coming up against Dunston UTS in the last sixteen.
The drama unfolds
All three goals came in the first quarter.  Stansted took their first real chance and went into the lead in the first ten minutes.  1-0.  Then this happened.  1-1. However, in the first attack after the restart the ball broke to a Stansted player directly in front of goal and he smashed it in for the lead.  2-1. Tackles started flying in on a very wet surface and the referee struggled to keep control, with one significant melee before the break.  Both teams argued with each other and among themselves and with the officials.  2-1 at half-time. In the second half, Enfield threatened to carve the home defence open with slick one-touch approach play.  They hit the woodwork and the home keeper was a busy man, as in these examples. However, Stansted’s direct breaks also created chances and they missed at least three good ones.  Although it felt as if they were hanging on at times, especially as Enfield’s substitutes reinforced the attack, Stansted could reasonably say that they had more clear chances over the 90 minutes and deserved the points. Enfield could reasonably say that they played the neater football, but Stansted would point to the scoreboard, so to speak.  A decent evening's entertainment for the passing neutral, even in the pouring rain.  2-1 at full-time.
Alternative activity of equal excitement for tourists in Stansted Mountfitchet
Go to The House on the Hill Toy Museum and find out if they have any early Subbuteo figures or the fabled streaker set.  The overall effect is even better if you can take some young people with you and explain to them in a repeating loop that toys of yesteryear are so much more educational and beneficial than first-person shootemups or TV tie-in exploitation games, and that you learned all you know about parabolas by playing Waddington’s Table Soccer (the one that was like tiddlywinks).
A snippet from the programme
I just have to give you two of them this time. Karen Shoebridge is the lady on the cover of the programme.  She is the chairman’s daughter and she is warmly thanked for all that she does for the club.  This seems to include much paperwork and “manning the tea bar on her own” against Takeley.  I’m not sure what Messrs Gray and Keys would have to say about this but “Stansted FC is fully appreciative of what you do for us, Karen, although you ask no reward it sometimes needs to be made known countless hours spent on our behalf carry rich levels of importance”. The chairman himself is not so lucky.  Terry Shoebridge is also thanked for “his unstinting support levels over such a lengthy period of time (down to the anal’s of folklore)”.  Indeed. A catapostrophe which will be added to the lists kept by the annal retentives, I reckon.
What I learned today
Enfield are one of four teams from this division (alongside Barkingside, Burnham Ramblers and Witham Town) who aspire to step 4 football.  The demise of Leyton and Ashford Town (Kent) this season may open the door a little wider for teams from this league.
What Next?
Probably some Saturday randomness because there is nothing close enough until then.