T'Rec in Midweek and a Miners Point

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Wednesday 18 April 2018 at Sheerien Park
Result	Athersley Recreation 0 Hemsworth Miners Welfare 0
Competition	Northern Counties East Premier Division (Step 5)
Hopstats	Ground 640 on the lifetime list. Here non-randomly in midweek as I try to get to my Step 3 landmark before the end of the season.  Athersley are the current hosts for Shaw Lane, and my personal preference is to watch landlords rather than tenants wherever possible.  Took a scenic route from the Midlands through North Staffordshire and Derbyshire, and England looked amazingly good in the first real sunshine of the year.
Context
Mainly pride at stake with this one.  A clearing-the-backlog fixture with neither team either pushing for promotion or facing a drop.  Hemsworth are the higher-placed side.
In one sentence
Very entertaining and plenty of effort and commitment from two physical and well-organised teams.
So what?
Athersley are 18th but with a huge 8-pt gap over Harrogate RA in 19th. Hemsworth in 6th place.
Match Report
Guess who forgot to pick up a teamsheet?  Aerial defences were in command for the first twenty-five minutes or so.  Both sides were strong and not frightened of a physical challenge.  Both teams struggled to create coherent attacks from the battles in the centre of the pitch.  A half-chance for Athersley as #11 just failed to connect with a low cross from #8 was followed by a Hemsworth shot by #10 just clipping the crossbar.  That was as near as anyone came until the 40th minute.  Both keepers had scuffed the odd clearance with a bouncy ball on a dry surface.  This time a weak Athersley clearance gave Hemsworth a chance but it was snuffed out, wastefully.  For the record, the pitch itself is in very good condition given its dual use.  We finished the first half fifteen minutes late as the ref pulled up lame.  A tannoy appeal for a qualified official followed, and one was found.  Back in the day they used to shout down a pit shaft and another one would appear.  Hang on, that may have been fast bowlers.  Anyway, goalless at half-time. The teams had an early chance each in the second half and I wrote “this will be 0-0” for the first time in my notes.  Hemsworth’s keeper narrowed the angle to make a great one-on-one save, and then a thumping Hemsworth header bounced down off the bar.  There was another good home chance after a corner was headed back across the goal, but the Hemsworth keeper made a great save.  As the game drew to a close, the visitors were pressing hard for the winner.  There were “Ooohs” all round and hands on heads when the ball narrowly went wide with four minutes to go, and then two minutes later a Hemsworth shot curled from the left edge of the box pinged against the outside of the post.  Definitely a nil-nil, but it was competitive and high-tempo and a decent night’s entertainment for the neutral.
Ground Pix
I don’t know how much the ground has changed because of the presence of Shaw Lane, but there is certainly plenty of Athersley branding about the place.  Very good and very quirky it is too.  The SatNavs point to the other side of the road and it is easy to miss the entrance to this ground between two houses.
Match Pix
Athersley in the black-and-white. Things are looking up - the bright dot at the bottom right intersection of thirds (photographers will explain) is the planet Venus.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
A draw and a clean sheet each for Blue and Purple, an improvement for both and enough to take Blue top of the table. Results so far after 141 tracked matches: 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 Blue 36.1 16.0 7.0 13.1 50.0 14.0 75.0 2.078 Red 10.0 5.0 1.0 4.0 11.0 3.0 20.0 2.000 Fire Cracker 2.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 4.0 1.0 4.0 2.000 Grey 44.5 20.0 10.0 14.5 72.5 12.0 57.5 1.292 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 Maroon 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 9.0 1.0 3.0 0.600 Orange 30.5 9.0 7.0 14.5 49.5 6.0 14.5 0.475 Radioactive Bile 13.0 6.0 0.0 7.0 26.0 2.0 2.0 0.154 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!  Plan for the coming Saturday is to complete the notional “232” (everywhere in England from Premier League to Step 3), for the first time for me personally, at Ashton United v Nantwich Town.