New Grounds for Pessimism

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 4 April 2015 at the Zeeco Stadium, Borderville
Result	Stamford 0 Ashton United 2
Competition	Northern Premier League (Step 3)
Hopping	Ground 557, here because it is my closest unvisited Step 3 venue.  I have seen Stamford twice at their previous home.  This new place is impressive in a new-and-well-designed kinda way, but groundhoppers will tend to tick it off and move on.
Pre-match preparation
Stamford are struggling and have not won a league game yet at their new home.  They have picked up points from draws and the odd away win but recently slipped into the relegation zone.  After their big move to Borderville, someone’s spreadsheet is about to get messed up if they go down.  Ashton United sit in a hotly contested playoff place and have a mathematical but slim chance of automatic promotion and the divisional title.
This match in one sentence
A generally uninspiring game was settled by a penalty and a neat finish in the second half.
So what?
Ashton United open a small gap over local rivals Curzon Ashton who were losing at home at the same time.  Stamford remain in the relegation spot, a point behind Frickley.  Their fate may well be undecided until their final fixture – they play three mid-table sides and also have to go to FC United, the champions-elect of the division.
The drama unfolds
Me to a player whose wayward shot pinged off the back of the stand and broke the spectacles of a gentleman nearby: “Are you one of the subs?”  Him: “No.”  Me: “Well, you should be.”  That was the most noteworthy item of the first half, to be honest, apart from a Poll-like moment from the ref.  I’d noted down an audacious attempt by Ashton to lob the keeper straight from the kick-off, and not much else for the first 30 minutes when I took this clip.  Stamford are in red. Just after I stopped filming, the ref consulted a lino and gave the player a yellow instead to take him up to two yellows and a red, a new world record.  He stayed on, and I suppose the right decision was made in the end, always a good thing, but not great for confidence in the officials I would guess.  The game continued to be physical and feisty and long-before half-time I was thinking about tea and Mars Bars in the plural.  0-0 at half-time I caught up with the WBA score during the interval and sighed a lot (they were losing 0-3 to QPR at the time).  The deadlock in this game was broken from the penalty spot.  Chris Baguley is the scorer.  0-1 after 56 mins I took a clip of Stamford pressure (I’d moved to the other end of the ground) just after the hour. Then Ashton should have doubled their lead as Martin Pilkington beat the home keeper to a long ball but rolled a shot wide of the post.  He made amends a minute later by putting a chance on a plate for Dale Johnson after a good run.  0-2 after 69 mins Stamford never gave up, and both sides had half-chances, but really the result never seemed in doubt.  The home supporters had an air of weary resignation.  Final score 0-2
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Green loses to Yellow, who picks up a clean sheet. 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 GC CS Pts PPG Purple 5.0 3.0 1.0 1.0 9.0 2.0 11.0 2.20 Green 23.0 11.0 2.0 10.0 29.0 7.0 41.0 1.78 Grey 23.5 10.0 7.0 6.5 31.5 7.0 40.5 1.72 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 10.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 16.0 3.0 11.0 1.10 Orange 7.5 2.0 2.0 3.5 10.5 2.0 7.5 1.00 Yellow 11.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 19.0 3.0 9.0 0.82 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?
No idea to be honest, follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!