Hopping Gives Me a Sense of Enormous Well-Being (Parkside)

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 14 October 2017 at Parkside
Result	Aveley 2 Soham Town Rangers 2
Competition	Isthmian League Division One North (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 622.  A planned trip to Spennymoor was thwarted by oversleeping and A1 closures, so this fixture caught my eye from the nearer alternatives.  I’ve seen Aveley at home once before, but this is a smart new ground with an artificial surface.
Context
Aveley have a new management team and two new signings this week, and a real “buzz” on Twitter to get my attention.  Soham also have two new signings.  So, I put on my trousers, had a cup of tea, and thought about leaving the house. Parkside.
In One Sentence
Entertaining for the passing neutral, frustrating for Aveley’s new gaffer who’d told his players to see the game out by the corner flag.
So What?
Aveley and Soham are 18th and 16th respectively.
Match Report
Aveley took the lead with a very good finish by Jordan Watson, tucking the ball away across the keeper into the far left corner. About to be 1-0 after 13 minutes The same player was involved into the build-up for the second.  Receiving the ball with his back to goal, he sent the ball to the left flank and the cross was perfect for Adam Bolle to stick out a leg and score with a first touch.  It was all pretty comfortable for Aveley who went into half-time with a two-goal lead. Rubbish photo feat. the scorer's foot and ball hidden behind keeper. 2-0 Soham looked more dangerous in the second half and it was no real surprise when they scored to get back in the game.  A long throw caused some chaos, the ball dropped to the floor and it was buried in the roof of the net by debutant Lee Chaffey.  Game on, better for the passing neutral. Aveley responded and there was a very entertaining end-to-end spell.  There was plenty of neat interplay and approach from the home side.  Any triangle-lovers would have been purring, but they never created the golden chance to make Soham’s keeper work hard.  With the third goal proving elusive, the home bench instructed the team to take a stoppage time free-kick to the corner flag.  They did, but ended up giving the ball back to Soham for one more attack.  The new bosses were not best pleased as a last-ditch equaliser was scored by the other Soham debutant, Craig Gillies. Even so, the chat amongst the home fans heading for the exit was that they’d seen a more promising performance and there will be better days ahead. Aveley (2) 2 (Watson 13, Bolle 21) Soham Town Rangers (0) 2 (Chaffey 60, Gillies 90+)
Ground Pix
This place is smart, and well-set for earning income on non-matchdays.  Grays are tenant groundsharers here too, but with a crowd today of just over 260, Aveley won’t want to stay around at Step 4 for long.  On social media this week, the arrival of new manager James Webster from the level above was being seen as something of a statement of intent.
Match Pix
Aveley in white-and-blue.
After Bins, Dogs, Raffles … Non-League Ceilings?
In search of a new angle for a photograph inside the very smart Aveley facilities.  OK, so I was trying to take a selfie but missed, alright?  Don't judge me...
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Green and grey today, and no change in the pecking order.  Full table was in the last post.  Will update from time to time.  After 121 games tracked, Red leads and Fire Cracker (as defined by Dulux) is last. For new readers: All of this arises from a comment attributed to Petr Cech that orange is the best colour for a goalkeeper because it changes the behaviour of other players around the box.
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  Spennymoor Town will be a priority sooner rather than later in order to restore "The 160".