Sunken Poole with Rocks on Top

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 12 August 2017 at The Black Gold Stadium
Result	Poole Town 2 East Thurrock United 3
Competition	National League South (Step 2)
Hopstats	613 on the lifetime list, re-completing National League South and leaving me with AFC Fylde’s new ground to restore the 116 and then Spennymoor Town to restore the 160.
Context
Both teams have started the league season reasonably well with a home draw and an away win.
In one sentence
Two goals from Montel Agyemang swung the game in the visitors’ favour and they defended their lead well for over half an hour.
If only…
... Poole had taken the chance that came their way just after their second goal.  Strong hands by ETU keeper Lukas Lidakevicius kept Shaun Cooper’s shot out.
So what?
Poole and ETU are 11th and 5th respectively in the early league table.
Match Report
The keepers made one decent save each in the first fifteen minutes, with Poole having more possession.  However, the next fifteen belonged to East Thurrock as they forced three chances in quick succession and I noted that they should really have taken the lead.  Poole then opened the scoring.  At the end of a good run from half-way, Abdulai Baggie held the ball up and laid it into the path of Steve Devlin who was steaming in untracked from midfield.  He scored with a great shot to the bottom right corner. The lead lasted ten minutes at most and there was a touch of good fortune about the equaliser.  I suspect that fullback Reece Harris was as surprised as anyone when his curling cross nestled in the far corner of the net.  Agyemang then got his first, cutting in from the right wing and curling a left-footer into that same corner to give East Thurrock the lead at the interval. Agyemang's first goal to give ETU the half-time lead Poole equalised immediately after the restart.  A well-worked move down the right eventually gave Baggie the chance to place the ball wide of Lidakevicius.  Game on, and the “if only” moment (see above) soon followed. The winning goal came as early as the 54th minute, another Agyemang finish from distance, this time with his right foot.  East Thurrock then defended well and Lidakevicius was not too busy.  Some home fans in the hog roast corner entertained us with some top quality moaning, especially when Harris committed two almost identical fouls on the edge of the box, and only got booked for the first.  Home captain Jamie Whisken went from centre back to up front for the last few minutes – he sent a header wide in the closing moments, but that was as close as Poole got.  Not their day, and a good win on the road for the Essex side. Poole Town 2     Devlin 31, Baggie 46 East Thurrock United 3     Harris 40, Agyemang 44, 54
Ground Pix
It’s easy to see why some Poole supporters have been hoping for a ground upgrade or even a new home.  They were denied a place in last season’s divisional playoffs due to ground requirements.  This is a really pleasant and well-kept ground that looks loved and cared-for, but unless something changes then it appears that the club are playing at their highest allowable level.
Match Pix
Pre-Match Entertainment
The original plan to spend a couple of hours in Poole was thwarted by the holiday traffic on the M25 & M3, but there was just enough time for a brief wander along the quay.  I remember Poole's large natural harbour from my 1973 Geography O-level.  This piece of ocean-going kit was one of many on show.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Purple loses to grey (ignoring the orange stripe on the latter) and drops below yellow.  Full table will be published once a month or so.
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!

Bewdley Trumped by Westfields in the Cup

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 5 August 2017 at Allpay Park, Hereford.
Result	Westfields 3 Bewdley Town 1
Competition	FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Hopstats	Ground Number 612 on my lifetime list, and I am here because a tweet from President Trump contained the word West, which therefore uniquely determined that Westfields, which also contains West, would be my pseudorandom choice today from 102 unvisited grounds. The details are in the blogpost that immediately precedes this.  Reaction on Twitter suggests that around a dozen people were mildly amused by this match-choice methodology.  The President will in due course look back at this as one of his better “decisions”, I feel sure.
Advice for the Hopperatic Society	Plan your car parking and look at a map before you travel.  This ground is tucked away in open parkland.  There is some limited parking, but I parked in the city centre and had an easy 15 minute stroll. Go past the Edgar Street stadium and then turn left.
Context
First competitive game of the season for both teams.  Step 5 Midland League plays Step 6 West Midlands Regional so the home side will start as favourites, especially as they have the experience of a splendid giantkilling run to the First Round Proper last season.
In one sentence
In the end, a straightforward Westfield win once a second goal had gone in early in the second half.
So what?
Westfields will travel to AFC Wulfrunians in two weeks in the Preliminary Round.
Match Report
Westfields gradually gained the first-half ascendancy but were made to work hard.  Alex Hainault saw a long-range effort tipped over spectacularly.  They eventually took the lead just before the interval with a low shot across the keeper by defender Matt Sysum.  Hainault added the second a few minutes after the restart with another low shot when freed by a neat backheel from Richard Graves.  It looked as if that would be that, and it certainly was with fifteen minutes left.  Substitute Carlos Moreira hammered home the rebound from his own shot after he had received the ball on the edge of the box from a corner.  Three well-worked and well-taken goals without reply until Pountney’s persistence paid off and he scored a stoppage-time consolation goal for the visitors. Westfields 3 (Sysum 41, Hainault 51, Moreira 75) Bewdley 1 (Pountney 90+1)
The “If Only…” Moment
If only Bewdley striker Lewis Pountney could have found the net rather than firing over, after his excellent movement had created the first real chance of the game with 11 minutes gone.
Ground Pix
Those big steel tanks belong to Heineken and I suspect they contain a billion fermenting apples.  Hereford is big in the world of cider production.
Match Pix
On This Day in Hopping History
5 August 2014 saw Spelthorne Sports win their first game at Step 5 with a 2-1 Combined Counties victory over Bedford Sports featuring a gazillion Chironomid midges. http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/spelthorne-step-up.html
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Today, orange beats green but neither has a clean sheet, and green still remains just ahead of  orange in mid-table.  For new readers, this is all because Petr Cech has or had an opinion that orange was best.  I will think about a statistical significance test at the end of the season. Results so far: Based on conventional 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, but also -1pt for a goal conceded (GC) and +5pts for a clean sheet (CS).  Colours ranked on a points per game (PPG) basis.The .1s and .5s are caused respectively by a non-matching sub keeper and a really annoying 50:50 top. P W D L GC 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 55.0 26.0 7.0 22.0 95.0 15.0 65.0 1.18 Orange 22.5 8.0 4.0 10.5 34.5 5.0 18.5 0.82 Purple 10.0 5.0 2.0 3.0 22.0 2.0 5.0 0.50 Yellow 24.0 7.0 6.0 11.0 46.0 5.0 6.0 0.25 Radioactive Bile 12.0 5.0 0.0 7.0 26.0 1.0 -6.0 -0.50 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?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  My priority grounds for this season will be AFC Fylde (to restore my 116 down to Step 1), Poole Town and Spennymoor Town (to restore my 160 down to Step 2) and then, at Step 3, Ashton United, Lancaster City, Merthyr Town, Shaw Lane, Tiverton Town, Warrington Town and Whitby Town to complete the 232 down to Step 3 for the first time.  I also hope, travel practicalities permitting, to go back to my blogroots and have as many random or randomish decisions as possible.  In the real world, I have now partly retired, at least for now (!), so I hope for more regular and reliable Saturday hopping time this season.