Sun Go Down as the Moon Comes Up

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Tuesday 11 April 2017 at Bellmount Wood Avenue, Watford
Result	Sun Sports 0 Hadley 3
Competition	Spartan South Midlands Premier Division (Step 5)
Hopping	Number 602 on the lifetime list, and local enough for a midweek jaunt.  I think I have just Hadley to visit now to complete this division.
Pre-match preparation
Mid-table respectability is secure for the home side.  The Sun in the name was originally a printing company that spawned a works side.  The visitors are flirting dangerously with relegation (assuming two go down).  They have games in hand and a win tonight would take them out of the bottom two.  Micky Hazard of Spurs, Chelsea and Swindon fame is their manager.
This match in one sentence
Hadley turned up ready for business and secured the points with an effective first-half performance.
So what?
Nothing much of significance either way for Sun Sports, but Hadley are out of the bottom two and still have three games in hand over London Tigers below them.
The drama unfolds
I watch a lot of football as a neutral.  Firstly, I thought the playing surface looked very decent for this level.  Also, to my amateur eye, the Hadley warm-up seemed more intense and focused, and that difference carried on into the game.  Even so, Hadley could not turn their encouraging signs into a crystal clear chance, until they were gifted the lead.  If anyone was filming, the home keeper won’t want to see his mishandling of Laste Dombaxe’s admittedly dipping shot.  0-1 after 20 mins There could have been a fabulous equaliser almost immediately but a volley from a right-wing cross floated wide. Instead the superb second goal came at the other end. It was Dombaxe again, from even further out.  I think the keeper got a hand to it but it was a wonderful strike, and he ran gleefully to the bench to celebrate.  0-2 after 38 mins and at HT Man running gleefully to a bench (see above) The International Space Station scooted across the sky as the players went in for the interval, and Jupiter rose in the East, soon to be followed by the Moon.  The question was, would Sun come back?  (See what I did there?)  To be fair, they did.  Hadley were maybe less ambitious going forward and their game management plan seemed to be working as Sun worked hard but for little reward.  The visiting keeper, protected by the green top (see below) had relatively little to do.  The game actually became more fractious as tackles flew in and yellows were brandished, but not as often as they might have been.  It was occasionally embarrassing such as when one player, apparently down with career-threatening injuries one minute, was sprinting after a through ball like a spring chicken on amphetamines the next.  The officials struggled to keep it civilised and of course the abuse kept on coming in from the sidelines.  It was almost a quarter to ten by the time Hadley added a third on the break through Ibrahim Lukalay in stoppage time.  Job done.  Final Score 0-3 Surrounding the referee
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Sun Sports in yellow/blue...
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
A win and a clean sheet for Green over Blue, taking it back into second place behind Red and above Blue after 99 games of counting.  Will publish the full table again soon!
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!