Hillians on the Ascent

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Monday 29 August 2016 at the Green Elephants Stadium, Leylands Park
Result	Burgess Hill Town 4 Folkestone Invicta 2
Competition	Isthmian Premier League (Step 3)
Hopping	Ground 593 and I am here due to the practicalities of Bank Holiday travel.  The nearest station is Wivensfield, there is no engineering work, no leaves on the line, and day returns are cheap today.  No changes are required because I live near the Bedford-Brighton line.  All of this is better than spending the day crawling around the M25.  It’s my second attempt to visit this ground – the first time was at the end of last season and had to be quickly converted into a trip to Haywards Heath.
Pre-match preparation
15th vs 9th in the early league table, with both teams losing on Saturday and neither being big scorers so far.  Invicta were promoted from Step 4 as divisional champions last seasonThe train travel and the Sussex location also meant the chance to catch up with @CyninSussex and a few local ales.  Cyndee very kindly supplied a replacement Mars Bar after this traumatic vending machine experience at Harpenden Station (yes, I know, I should know better) which left one of the country’s most valuable pieces of confectionery dangling in mid-air.  I had never seen a £1 Mars Bar before and this beats the previous best of 95p at Watford Gap (Northbound).
This match in one sentence
A thoroughly entertaining game with a comedy last-minute own-goal which was the flattering fourth for the home side.
So what?
It’s now 9th and 13th respectively but both teams start their FA Cup trails with home ties in the first qualifying round next week for Non-League Day.
The drama unfolds
Folkestone took the lead with a soft goal from a free-kick at a narrow angle.  It was difficult to see what happened from the other end but the club Twitter suggests that the shot, credited to Ronnie Dolan, crept in at the near post.  0-1 after 9 mins However, the Hillians struck back almost immediately.  First, Lee Harding hit the bar before a move down the left ended up with a tap-in for Tyrell Richardson-Brown.  1-1 after 12 mins Richardson-Brown would go on to have two good chances in quick succession and one before the break.  His pace and presence meant that he was a handful for the Folkestone defence who had to be thankful that his chance completion rate was on the low side today.  Both sides had one more good chance before the interval and Burgess Hill would have felt slightly happier.  1-1 at half-time It took 16 minutes before Burgess Hill took the lead with a curling left-footed direct freekick from Leon Redwood.  2-1 after 61 mins Redwood's shot is going in, trust me Folkestone found their equaliser with a slick break.  A powerful run through midfield from Scott Heard played in Ashley Miller down the left and the chance was taken at the far post by Ian Draycott.  2-2 after 75 mins With nine minutes left, a slick Burgess Hill moved down the left created a shooting chance for substitute Dan Thompson.  His complete mishit was heading well wide but became a pass for Dan Pearse who scored.  3-2 after 81 mins Burgess Hill deserved the win, and the scoreline was made a little glossier in stoppage time when Invicta’s Nat Blanks flicked the ball back to his keeper, who was caught flat-footed and despite a scrambled effort, could not prevent the own goal.  That was a tad harsh.  Final score 4-2
Ground Pix
This is a neat and tidy ground with a decent clubhouse, more than adequate seating and some excellent screening with mature trees.
Match Pix
Burgess Hill Town are in green.
Five Years of Modus Hopper Random
http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/rhyming%20triple It was this corresponding weekend in 2012 that I managed one of my favourite groundhopping feats with a “rhyming triple” of Truly Selsey, Madly Crawley (Down), Deeply Henley made even sweeter by the late enforced change of plan caused by an amendment to Horley’s fixtures!
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Grey takes the win over the rarely-seen Black but also concedes two.  Black drops one place in the table – this is now up to 90 games. 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded (GC) and +5pts for a clean sheet (CS).  Colours ranked by Pts per Game (PPG). P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 7.0 4.0 0.0 3.0 6.0 3.0 21.0 3.00 Green 45.0 25.0 5.0 15.0 69.0 13.0 76.0 1.69 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.50 Blue 24.1 9.0 5.0 10.1 40.0 8.0 32.0 1.33 Orange 14.5 4.0 3.0 7.5 18.5 4.0 16.5 1.14 Grey 34.5 15.0 7.0 12.5 58.5 8.0 33.5 0.97 Purple 9.0 4.0 2.0 3.0 20.0 2.0 4.0 0.44 Yellow 17.0 4.0 5.0 8.0 31.0 4.0 6.0 0.35 Pink 11.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 25.0 1.0 -10.0 -0.91 Black 4.0 1.0 3.0 0.0 11.0 0.0 -5.0 -1.25 Radioactive Bile 9.0 2.0 0.0 7.0 23.0 0.0 -17.0 -1.89 White 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.9 3.0 0.0 -3.0 -3.33
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  It is Non-League Day next weekend but I am not yet sure how much freedom I will have to make a long journey.  There are 38 FA Cup ties at unvisited grounds and I hope to make a random selection somehow. If I am constrained to be in Herts then the games at Slough and Sun Sports are quite close, and if I am in the Midlands then there are games at Highgate United or Ashby Ivanhoe.  The decision may well be as late as Friday evening.  Hope all my teacher (and pupil) readers have a successful start to their new terms.

Evergreen in a Right Two and Eight as They are Mauled by Lions

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 27 August 2016 at South Way (Main Pitch)
Result	Evergreen 2 London Lions 8
Competition	Hertfordshire Senior County League Premier Division (Step 7)
Hopping	It’s random(ish).  Ground 592 on the lifetime list and I am here because Pakistan scored exactly three runs from the 27th over (bowled by Mark Wood) in their innings at Lord’s this morning.  I had seven venues to choose from and the evidence trail is on Twitter.  A maiden over, or seven runs scored, would have sent me to Bovingdon.  The other venues in the list were Bushey SC, Chipperfield, Knebworth, Sarratt and Ware Sports.  Their turn will come.
Pre-match preparation
Two league matches played by each side – Lions have won both at home, Evergreen have two away defeats.  Not sure how much that tells me at this early point in the season.  The home club motto is the very cultured Latin conjunctis viribus.  Conjunctis is concerned with togetherness or union, and viribus is strength or virility, here in the ablative case to imply the preposition “with”.  I knew I would use this O Level knowledge one day.
This match in one sentence
A thrashing.
So what?
Lions and Evergreen keep their 100% and 0% league records intact.  Lions are nominally second in the league, behind Bovingdon on goal difference.
The drama unfolds
Thanks to the Lions’ Twitter feed for helping me credit the goalscorers.  Lions had the breeze behind them for the first half and it played a part in the early opening goal from Austin Lipman. James Gershfield rolled in a second before the quarter-hour.  The third, just before the half-hour, was gift-wrapped when the ball was lost in defence and Josh Kennet ran through into space for an easy finish.  0-3 after 26 mins The pitch was dry and hard, bouncy and quick, and the stiff breeze did not help either side to play good football.  Lions tried to keep the ball on the deck but for Evergreen it was a case of getting to half time with minimum damage.  Lions’ number 11, Jordan Marks I think, had other ideas as he provided the assist for Lipman’s second goal just before the break.  0-4 at half time It was essential for Evergreen to start the second half strongly but incredibly they found themselves seven down after a three-in-five-minutes scoreburst from the Lions.  Kennet’s second was followed by Lipman’s hat-trick from the penalty spot and a tap-in for Gershfield, with an assist by Marks.  0-7 after 56 mins With the game over as a contest my attention turned to a personal groundhopping record – ten goals in a game when St Neots beat Desborough Town 10-0 in 2010.  The next goal, however, was a consolation for Evergreen and it was a tidy finish from a flicked through ball.  It was number 9, currently anonymous and probably for the best as will be explained shortly.  1-7 after 69 mins Any thoughts of a comeback were snuffed out as Charlie Rubin headed home from a corner, and then the tenth goal of the day was another nice finish by the home side’s number 4.  2-8 after 84 mins There were a couple of half-chances but my scoring record was equalled rather than broken.  The Evergreen number 9 got away with a string of patronising dissent to the referee’s assistant before this one-sided affair came to a close. Final score 2-8
Ground Pix
A new situation presented itself on arrival as there were two games taking place simultaneously on adjacent pitches and my personal hop rules did not cover this eventuality.  A quick committee meeting in my head and a check of the moral compass resulted in a decision that only one could count.  Bovingdon Reserves beat Evergreen Reserves 2-1 with a late winner.  By the way, the huge nearby buildings are part of the Leavesden Studios (think Harry Potter et al). The adjacent game which can't be counted, oh no
Match Pix
Evergreen are not surprisingly in the green and white.  Lipman (10) glances the opening goal Gershfield is about to roll the ball gently into the far corner for the second
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
There was a full update on the last blogpost from West Ham.  Today was very bad for grey, and average for pink.  Grey falls below orange as a result.  Further updates will follow periodically as we approach the 100-game survey total.  Red is top of the table, with green in second place.
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  Work is piling up but I might try to fit in another local hop on Bank Holiday Monday and of course then it is Non-League Day next weekend.  A new term starts next week so the work-life balance takes a hammering again.