It's Raining Pens

No programme (just a teamsheet) so here's the food menu instead - well above average!

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Wednesday 22 August 2018 at Hayden Road
Result	Rushden & Higham Utd 6 Cogenhoe United 1
Competition	United Counties League Knockout Cup Preliminary Round
Hopstats	Ground 652, and this is a pragmatic midweek visit to the only one of my priority grounds hosting a game tonight.  Rushden & Higham United are landlords to AFC Rushden & Diamonds of Step 3, and I choose landlords rather than tenants if I possibly can for my visit.
Context
Step 6 plays Step 5 and the visitors will start as favourites.  However, hard to know in advance whether sides will be full strength.  League Cup competitions vary – pre-match consensus was that this would go straight to ET and pens if level after 90 minutes.
In one sentence
Surprisingly straightforward win for the home side after the visitors missed their third-minute penalty (one of four spot-kicks awarded tonight).
So what?
Rushden & Higham will visit Eynesbury Rovers in the next round.
Match Report
This was a game with several potential hinge points, and the first came as early as the 3rd minute.  A penalty was awarded to Cogenhoe for handball, but Ryan Dove’s spotkick was pushed away by Kyle Swailes.  Cogenhoe were applying the early pressure but Dave Townsend was able to break the defensive line on the break to score the opening goal.  It was a tidy left-foot finish whilst holding off a defender.  Jory Mann, full of running for most of the evening, added a second from the penalty spot.  He had been tripped at the byeline whilst heading for goal.  Untidy defending again and now a two-goal deficit. Cogenhoe were back in the game from the third penalty of the night.  The ref judged there had been a trip (I think) and Dove made no mistake this time.  However, here’s a second possible hinge point as within a minute Mann was sticking away his second penalty of the four awarded so far.  He had again been brought down, this time at edge of the area, and the keeper Callum Patching escaped with a yellow card.  Fair enough, but the two-goal lead now restored. I think Rushden and Higham were surprising themselves with the half-time score, which was 4-1 due to a horrible defensive miskick falling straight to Mann who duly completed his first-half hat-trick. It would be essential for Cogenhoe to score first after the break, but the home side were holding out easily enough until we reached 65 minutes or so.  As the visitors pressed forward, there was even more space at the back, but the goal to make it 5-1 was another gift.  Patching’s clearance rebounded off Jamie Russell and rolled gently into the net.  Game over.  It remained entertainingly end-to-end and the final goal came very late on from substitute Callum Dench who seized on a short backpass and kept enough composure to score under challenge.  A final 6-1 scoreline that would not have been predicted by anyone, even #keepertopcolourstats, and great entertainment for the passing neutral.
Pix
Home side in orange-and-black.  Main stand not in use.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
New this season – a pre-match prediction based only on keeper top colours as a preliminary test of the data.  Proper statistical significance test to follow in due course. Tonight Radioactive Bile faces up to Grey and takes a big win but neither has a clean sheet.  Grey holds position but Bile jumps above Yellow. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No. Not even close. % of correct predictions so far 75% (6 from 8) 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.  It may not be statistically significant as yet, but football coverage ignores this point as a matter of routine. 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 47.5 22.0 10.0 15.5 79.5 13.0 61.5 1.295 Green 80.0 40.0 10.0 30.0 135.0 20.0 95.0 1.188 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 Purple 16.0 7.0 3.0 6.0 36.0 4.0 8.0 0.500 Orange 34.5 11.0 7.0 16.5 59.5 6.0 10.5 0.304 Radioactive Bile 18.0 8.0 0.0 10.0 37.0 2.0 -3.0 -0.167 Yellow 31.0 8.0 7.0 16.0 65.0 5.0 -9.0 -0.290 Pink 16.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 31.0 1.0 -6.0 -0.375 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!  Five more Step 3 grounds to go, but I am now doing other things for a few days so my next hop is likely to be Saturday 1 September.  Alvechurch, Bamber Bridge and South Shields are all possibilities for that day but it also depends on the FA Cup draw because I want to get the five grounds done by the end of September, before Tottenham move into their new place.

Frome With View - Football Can Be Cruel

I downloaded this programme (free) from the club website before travelling, but I made sure I was early enough to get this hard copy at the ground.  Call me old-fashioned.  Oh, you do already.

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 18th August at The Memorial Ground
Result	Hartley Wintney 2 Frome Town 1
Competition	Southern League Premier Division South (Step 3)
Hopstats	Ground 651 on my lifetime list and I am here randomishly because of this result from the Liga Nacional in Guatemala. Pedro Samayoa’s last minute winner for Municipal over Deportivo Petapa brings me here.  A home win meant that I would have been at Dorking Wanderers and a draw would have sent me to South Shields.  The evidence is on Twitter, but I will be headed to those grounds soon enough as I close in on “The 248” (everywhere from Premier League to Step 3) with six to go.
Context
Third league game of the season for both sides.  Hartley Wintney have started with two wins, whereas Frome have one point from an opening-day draw.  The hosts have shot up from Step 5 in recent years, winning their Step 3 place through last season’s play-offs.  Frome are established in this league and had mid-table respectability last season.
In one sentence
Harsh on Frome, whose sub keeper-manager had saved a last minute penalty, but this Hartley Wintney side do not know when they are beaten.
So what?
Still very early in the season but the clubs find themselves near opposite ends of the table.  Hartley Wintney’s 100% record is good enough for second place on goal difference.  Frome Town are just outside the bottom three.
Match Report
Frome took an early lead, Matt Morris bundling the ball past home keeper Adam Desbois.  Adam is a 17-year old on Reading’s books, and he apparently missed the last game because of an England call-up.  The rest of the first half had few highlights.  There was plenty of effort and hard work from both sides, but Frome’s defence coped easily with Hartley Wintney’s attempts to draw level.  Desbois varied his distribution methods and could often be found as a sweeper-keeper nearer the halfway line than the goal-line.  He has a kick like a cannon and his was a remarkable performance for his age.  The home side tried to exploit the pace of Romari Hart and always got the ball forward quickly, but Frome’s defence was excellent and well-organised.  The home supporters called for a penalty just before the break, claiming a raised defensive hand had touched the ball.  I was not in a good position to give the neutral’s judgement. In the second half, Frome missed a good chance (though it seemed to me that two players were offside) and then Hartley Wintney missed their best one so far as a right-wing cross from Claudio Herbert went past everyone in the area. The hinge point of the game came with the departure due to injury of Frome keeper Darren Bechet.  The manager Dan Greaves replaced him, and thankfully for my spreadsheet, was wearing the same colours.  He couldn’t do anything about the equalising goal that came from Nicholas Ciardini as he burst through the middle of the defensive line. Frome tried but failed to catch Desbois out of position from the restart.  The last few minutes were end-to-end entertainment as both sides went for the win, but as we entered the 90th minute an inexplicable push in the box resulted in a penalty kick for the home side.  Taken by Ciardini, it was an easy save for Greaves low to his right. However, there was time for a cruel winning goal, again with no chance for Greaves.  Nathan Smart goes down as the home hero, gleefully scoring the winning goal in the 5th minute of stoppage time.  Joy and despair, victory and defeat.  Frome looked devastated, and who can blame them – they had led from the 12th to the 85th minute.  Even as a neutral, never leave early.
Pix
Hartley Wintney in orange.  The ground still has a Step 4 feel because the club’s promotions are as yet still ahead of their infrastructure.  Everything about the club made a good first impression, and it is to be hoped that they can find a sustainable model that will also increase their core support.  Well worth a hop in daylight hours so you can appreciate the semi-rural setting.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
New this season – a pre-match prediction based only on keeper top colours as a preliminary test of the data.  Proper statistical significance test to follow in due course.  This is now based on 152 observations. Today: Purple beats Radioactive Bile, but no clean sheet.  Bile drops one place in the table. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 86% (6 from 7) 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.  It may not be statistically significant as yet, but football coverage ignores this point as a matter of routine. 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 46.5 22.0 10.0 14.5 73.5 13.0 67.5 1.452 Green 80.0 40.0 10.0 30.0 135.0 20.0 95.0 1.188 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 Purple 16.0 7.0 3.0 6.0 36.0 4.0 8.0 0.500 Orange 34.5 11.0 7.0 16.5 59.5 6.0 10.5 0.304 Yellow 31.0 8.0 7.0 16.0 65.0 5.0 -9.0 -0.290 Radioactive Bile 17.0 7.0 0.0 10.0 36.0 2.0 -5.0 -0.294 Pink 16.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 31.0 1.0 -6.0 -0.375 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!  I may try to get to either Bamber Bridge or Scarborough Athletic on Tuesday.  I will almost certainly go to Rushden & Higham v Cogenhoe for a United Counties League Cup game on Wednesday – the hosts are landlords for Step 3 AFC Rushden & Diamonds and that’s my preferred way of getting the tick.  Then I am out of circulation for a few days until a provisional planned trip to South Shields on Saturday 1 September.  If all falls into place and there is a helpful draw for the FA Cup 1st and 2nd Qualifying Rounds (8th and 22nd September) then I should be able to complete The 248 by the end of the month.