Dynamo Charge Positively Around a Field and Stay Up

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 22 April 2017 at The Nanpantan Sports Ground
Result	Loughborough Dynamo 4 Market Drayton Town 1
Competition	Northern Premier League Division One South (Step 4)
Hopping	Number 611 on the lifetime list.  Here because my Step 3 target grounds are all too far away for a term-time trip, and this is a game with a lot at stake.  At this stage of the season I tend to be a game-hopper as much as a groundhopper.  I much prefer the contest to have some possible significance.
Pre-match preparation
A run of three road wins, two of which were over relegation rivals, has given Loughborough the chance of a Great Escape.  Basically, they will stay up if they win, whatever happens elsewhere.  If they lose or draw, then the result from Rugby Town v Kidsgrove becomes relevant.  Rugby Town (a point behind at start of play but with an uncatchable favourable goal difference) need to do better than Loughborough to stay up.  A home loss here today and Rugby only need a draw, and a draw here means that Rugby would need to win.  I am expecting drama, passion and shouting.  Loughborough will also be encouraged to see that Market Drayton’s goalkeeper has moved to Stafford Rangers this week for some reason.  His replacement, Glynn Coney, has made his previous appearances up front!
This match in one sentence
It took until the second half before Karl Demidh completed his hat-trick to ensure that Dynamo did enough to avoid relegation, and the tension evaporated after an hour or so.
So what?
Loughborough Dynamo stay up, Rugby Town are relegated.  Market Drayton finish in mid-table.
The drama unfolds
It was certainly tense.  Market Drayton started strongly and had the better of the opening half-hour.  It was stop-start stuff, with several free-kicks and two stern ref lectures for visible dissent.  Dynamo were forced into an early substitution, and had just once half-decent chance on the break.  I made a note that Dynamo had weathered the storm just in time for them to concede.  A well-placed glancing header by Daniel Beddows from a right-wing cross was greeted with gloom, especially as the news filtered through that Rugby had the lead against Kidsgrove.  0-1 after 28 mins Fortunately nerves were settled reasonably quickly.  As a home forward burst through on goal, collision with keeper Coney was inevitable.  He escaped with a yellow card, but was powerless to stop Demidh’s excellent placed penalty low to his left.  1-1 after 30 mins I was at the other end when Coney was fouled having dropped the ball, the resulting tap-in being disallowed.  In the end there was nothing else to report either here or at Rugby, so as things stood Loughborough were going down to Step 5.  1-1 at half-time The tide turned a few minutes into the second half.  Dynamo had been more, er… dynamic and got the lead with a slightly lucky goal.  The chance came from good work by full-back Tom Rigby, who beat his man to a clearance and then powered towards the goal before playing in Danny Durkin behind the defence.  His cross may have looped up off a defender’s foot before finding the far corner of the net.  Cue celebrations.  2-1 after 51 mins Dynamo hit the post soon afterwards, which added to the tension at the time but in the end was not an issue.  Twitter confirmed a Kidsgrove equaliser at Rugby and then Demidh curled in a delightful long-range freekick from the left.  Cue wilder celebrations.  3-1 after 61 mins  It got a bit fractious, we had some pushing, some shoving and a melée.  Then Dynamo settled to periods of keep-ball as news filtered through of a second and third goal for Kidsgrove in quick succession.  Demidh completed a hat-trick in the closing moments with a calmly rolled penalty to the left this time.  Cue, well you know.  I left them to it and headed back to the M1.  Final score 4-1
Ground Pix
This ground is definitely worth a daylight visit.  Adjacent cricket and bowls too.
Match Pix
Dynamo are in the gold and black.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Today, a relatively rare appearance and win for Pink over Green.  The table is now based on 108 matches. The story so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal against (GA) and +5pts for a clean sheet (CS), rank order by Points per Game (PPG) P W D L GA CS Pts PPG Red 8.0 4.0 0.0 4.0 8.0 3.0 19.0 2.38 Blue 28.1 11.0 5.0 12.1 44.0 10.0 44.0 1.57 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.50 Grey 39.5 19.0 8.0 12.5 64.5 11.0 55.5 1.41 Green 53.0 26.0 7.0 20.0 89.0 15.0 71.0 1.34 Orange 20.5 7.0 4.0 9.5 29.5 5.0 20.5 1.00 Purple 10.0 5.0 2.0 3.0 22.0 2.0 5.0 0.50 Yellow 23.0 6.0 6.0 11.0 46.0 4.0 -2.0 -0.09 Radioactive Bile 11.0 4.0 0.0 7.0 24.0 1.0 -7.0 -0.64 Pink 12.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 26.0 1.0 -8.0 -0.67 Black 5.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 14.0 0.0 -8.0 -1.60 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.11
What Next?
No definite plans, so follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!