One for Sorrow, Two for Joy

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 27 December 2014 at Peacehaven Sports Park
Result	Peacehaven & Telscombe 1 Maidstone United 1
Competition	Isthmian Premier League (Step 3)
Hopping	Ground 555, and the first for ages.  Professional duties and all that.  Therefore, a shorter-than-usual post just to prove I still exist, and I will be back in full swing at some point.
Pre-match preparation
I was so impressed by my hired Volvo V40 on the October trip to Sweden that I have ended up getting one, so it is farewell to the outgoing Yappmobile after 165000 very trouble-free and pleasant miles.  Today was the first outing for the new toy, and thus much of the pre-match prep involved pressing random buttons rather than doing proper research.  I think I may have accidentally phoned Kim-Jong Un, but I will worry about that later. Here’s to many trips ahead. P&T have had two successive promotions and sit in mid-table.  They have had a recent change in manager and a very good result (a win at Margate) last time out.  They are known as the Magpies, and the last time I saw them was on an eventful trip to Larkhall.  (Click on the tag cloud to see why!)  Maidstone are going well and start the day in second, but with several games in hand over the leaders Margate.   I thought 4hrs was enough for an easy journey and a pre-game clifftop walk, but I reckoned without the M25 western section.  I arrived 3 minutes after kickoff and missed the opening goal, the first time this has happened to me for decades.  At least I got a programme!
This match in one sentence
The stand-in home goalkeeper Joe Gatting, having taken stick from visiting fans all afternoon because of the quality of his kicking, stepped upfield to convert a stoppage-time penalty and win a deserved point.
So what?
As you were.  P&T are 13th and Maidstone are 2pts behind Margate with four games in hand.
The drama unfolds
The first thing I did was to take a pic of the teams board, and at that time I did not realise the significance of Joe Gatting’s appearance in the maroon goalkeeping jersey.  It turns out that he was taking the place of the unavailable regular.  Joe will arguably be better known for his first-class cricket career.  I did notice that he was getting plenty of verbal from the visitors behind his goal.  By this time, Maidstone were already one up, thanks to a goal from Alex Akrofi.  By all accounts a tap-in after a scramble.  The home side must have feared the worst. 0-1 already after less than 3 mins I watched P&T come close to an equaliser from a set piece, and the game developed into a good contest, sometimes with a physical edge and an element of feistiness.  The ref in particular came under a lot of pressure.  Maidstone also came close to a second before I took my scene-setter clip after about half-an-hour.  It was bitingly cold. The rest of the first half carried on in much the same vein.  I took a walk around the ground, which is very much a work-in-progress now after the two promotions.  It is in transition between a charming and picturesque ground (the view over downs is really rather good, and very photogenic) and a modern step 3 facility.  If you are a hopper yet to come here, either choose a warmer day than I did or wait a bit longer until some of the projects are completed (as they are not at all photogenic – yet).  0-1 at half-time P&T pressed for much of the second half.  Maidstone were content to play on the break, and they defended well.  When Trevor MacReade fired over for the home side after an hour, it looked like they were destined for a noble defeat.  Pacy sub Wilfrid Grimaud caused some problems and had already had one penalty shout turned down before a spot-kick was awarded in stoppage time.  Gatting stepped up – here is his moment.  Neither team could grab a winner in the short time remaining.  Final score 1-1
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Today, maroon draws with grey and this table brings us completely up-to-date. The story so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet P W D L GA (-1 each) CS (5 each) Pts Pts per Game Purple 5.0 3.0 1.0 1.0 9.0 2.0 11.0 2.20 Grey 23.5 10.0 7.0 6.5 31.5 7.0 40.5 1.72 Green 21.0 10.0 2.0 9.0 27.0 6.0 35.0 1.67 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.50 Red 4.0 2.0 0.0 2.0 5.0 1.0 6.0 1.50 Blue 9.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 14.0 3.0 13.0 1.44 Orange 7.5 2.0 2.0 3.5 10.5 2.0 7.5 1.00 Yellow 10.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 19.0 2.0 1.0 0.10 Radioactive Bile 6.0 2.0 0.0 4.0 12.0 0.0 -6.0 -1.00 Pink 7.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 16.0 0.0 -10.0 -1.43 Black 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 3.0 0.0 -2.0 -2.00
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  I hope to get the intray under control and get out for a hop next Saturday.