Buntingford Set Herts Fluttering at Knebworth

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 28 April 2018 at Knebworth Recreation Ground
Result	Knebworth 1 Buntingford Town 2
Competition	Hertfordshire Senior County League Premier Division (Step 7)
Hopstats	Ground 644 on the lifetime list, and here non-randomly today because I needed to stay local.
Context
There are some teams with a lot of fixtures left to play in this league.  Knebworth are in the lower half of the table but with several games in hand.  Buntingford are bottom with even more games in hand, but that won’t count unless they start winning.  They have just one win and two draws all season.
In one sentence
A plot twist saw Buntingford take the points with a late, late winner.
So what?
The teams stay 11th and 15th respectively but maybe a wake-up ripple through time and space will be felt at Evergreen and Lemsford in 14th and 13th.
Match Report
The surface was wet and slippery, but a good playing surface and in much better condition than I was expecting to see given the weather.  The daisies are doing well.  The players took the opportunity for a few old-school sliding tackles.  The chat at pitchside was that Knebworth were missing a few regulars, but that some reserves were stepping up, including a goalkeeper who has more regularly been seen outfield.  Pep Guardiola got his inspiration from English Step 7, I tell you.  The game was largely fought in midfield for the first quarter of an hour.  Buntingford took the lead when the stand-in keeper was unlucky to see his parry of a fierce shot from distance fall nicely to Buntingford’s #9.  Knebworth deservedly levelled before half-time – a cross from the right was over-hit but the return from the left gave James Tizard the chance for a header into the corner. Level at the break, and the teams largely continued to cancel each other out during the second half.  The best chances came from set pieces, and both teams rode their luck at times.  The last ten minutes had as much serious goalmouth action as the rest of the game put together.  The visiting keeper made a great block with his feet and then a Knebworth corner caused chaos and it took a goalline clearance to stop them scoring.  It felt somewhat harsh that Buntingford went up the other end within a minute and scored to grab the points.  There was still time for one more goalmouth melée but Knebworth’s players could not get that ball over the line.  A result that is not of huge significance to Knebworth, but keeps alive that glimmer of hope for Buntingford.
Ground Pix
Two adjacent pitches and a large number of trees!  I’m somewhat obsessed by non-league trees at the moment and they are lined up here with mathematical precision.  Despite the incessant drizzle, this was an amiable afternoon out at a friendly club with real mugs for the coffee.
Match Pix
Knebworth in orange.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Blue (just about, a very greeny one) loses to Orange, but overall league positions unchanged after 145 games. 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. For new readers the odd .5 was caused by a shocking half-and-half shirt and the .1 was due to a substitute goalkeeper in a different colour.  The Fire Cracker colour was confirmed with the help of the social media team at Dulux UK.  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. P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 10.0 5.0 1.0 4.0 11.0 3.0 20.0 2.000 Blue 38.1 16.0 7.0 15.1 54.0 14.0 71.0 1.864 Grey 45.5 21.0 10.0 14.5 73.5 12.0 59.5 1.308 Green 74.0 36.0 10.0 28.0 123.0 19.0 90.0 1.216 Purple 14.0 6.0 3.0 5.0 31.0 4.0 10.0 0.714 Fire Cracker 3.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 6.0 1.0 2.0 0.667 Maroon 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 9.0 1.0 3.0 0.600 Orange 32.5 11.0 7.0 14.5 51.5 6.0 18.5 0.569 Radioactive Bile 15.0 7.0 0.0 8.0 30.0 2.0 1.0 0.067 Yellow 31.0 8.0 7.0 16.0 65.0 5.0 -9.0 -0.290 Pink 15.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 30.0 1.0 -8.0 -0.533 Black 5.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 14.0 0.0 -8.0 -1.600 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!