No, I Won't Remember Raynes Park

PROGRAMME SOLD OUT SO A TURNSTILE ENTRANCE PIC INSTEAD:

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Wednesday 9 April 2015 at Prince Georges Fields, Grand Drive
Result	Raynes Park Vale 0 Guildford City 1
Competition	Combined Counties League Premier Division (Step 5)
Hopping	Ground 562, chosen for geographical and logistic reasons, which brings me up to seven from seven days in this run!
Pre-match preparation
Guildford City are in greater need of the points.
This match in one sentence
Guildford grabbed a goal and managed to defend it.
So what?
Guildford remain 20th of 21 but have two games in hand on Knaphill, 2pts above.  Raynes Park Vale are 17th but also have games in hand on those around them and should be safe whatever happens.
The drama unfolds
The potholes on the approach road to the ground are a danger to shipping, never mind cars and it was impossible not to “ground” the Yappmobile on the way in and out.  I’d waited patiently in the car park for the turnstile to open, which it did just after 7.15pm, and was disappointed as third man in that the programmes had already sold out in the clubhouse, which had no obvious entry or welcome sign.  Together with the grim exterior of this venue, all this conspired to make me very grumpy and uninterested as the match kicked off – late. I took a scene-setter clip after about 15 minutes.  The home side are in blue. Just after this, Guildford forced a series of corners, leading to a jolly song from the jolly visitors, along the lines of, “Oh when the beans, come out the tin (repeat), then put some bread in the toaster, Oh when the beans come out the tin.”  I have no idea why, but I hope it catches on. It was 0-0 at half-time and I had noted nothing else of interest at that point. The second half followed a similar pattern, and I watched from the old wooden stand.  There was no lack of effort, and the fitness levels of the players allowed both sides to play at a high tempo.  However, the final ball lacked penetration or quality and there were few really clear opportunities.  The first one after the interval fell to Guildford but Anthony Baker’s first-touch was just too heavy.  Then there was a dipping shot for RPV which is at the end of the next clip. The winning goal came after perseverance in the box by Dan Stewart, who turned and squirmed and managed to tuck a low left-foot shot into the corner.  0-1 after 67 mins Guildford managed to defend that lead for the rest of the game.  Either side might have scored during the closing phase, but Guildford’s travelling support were very happy with this away win, which helps greatly in the relegation battle, even though there was much talk in the main stand of reprieves to come this season anyway.  Time will tell.  Final score 0-1 PS I hope someone will pick up the obscure musical reference in the blogpost title!
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Nothing to offer tonight!
Something You Don’t Get in the Premier League
A choice of seating or standing:
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Red loses to Green, and that’s another Clean Green Sheet. The story so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet.  GC=goals conceded  CS=clean sheet  PPG=pts per game 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 28.0 14.0 2.0 12.0 37.0 10.0 57.0 2.04 Grey 25.5 11.0 7.0 7.5 34.5 7.0 40.5 1.59 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.50 Red 5.0 2.0 0.0 3.0 6.0 1.0 5.0 1.00 Blue 11.0 4.0 3.0 4.0 17.0 3.0 13.0 1.18 Orange 7.5 2.0 2.0 3.5 10.5 2.0 7.5 1.00 Yellow 12.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 21.0 3.0 7.0 0.58 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?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  Heading to Cambridge this weekend.