Clear Sight of Goole

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 4 August at Victoria Pleasure Grounds
Result	Goole AFC 1 Worksop Town 2
Competition	Northern Counties East Premier League (Step 5)
Hopstats	Ground 647 on the lifetime list, and I am here randomishly specifically because Dmitri Poloz of Rubin Kazan equalised in the 51st minute of their match against Dinamo Moscow on Friday 3 August.  If he’d missed his shot I’d have been at Kirby Muxloe v Wellingborough Whitworth instead. You may think this is strange, but all is explained in the previous post.
Pre-Match Entertainment
A brief visit to the Waterways Museum, just a short drive away from the ground.  Interesting display of the history of Goole as a commercial centre in days gone by, and documentation of some of the dire differences between rich and poor.  Sound familiar?
Context
First league game of the season for both sides.  Goole were relegated from Step 4 at the end of last season.  Valuable information came from Twitter via @RussWWFC and @IanRidley1 respectively, that I should get there early enough for a portion of the excellent pie (agreed, duly done) and that Goole sold Tony Galvin to Tottenham Hotspur (in the late 70s, long before Jamie Vardy made his way from the Northern Premier League to the top tier).  I understand that Worksop supporters of a certain age may remember Ian’s coverage for their local paper.
In one sentence
Goole were not composed or clinical enough in front of goal, so they slipped to defeat against a well-organised Worksop side.
So what?
I refuse to acknowledge league tables after the first round of matches.
Match Report
In very hot conditions but on a decent surface, both defences asserted themselves in a first half of few chances.  Goole’s Jake Stannard & Josh Eastwood were booked for late tackles, and teammate Adam Lund and Worksop’s Matthew Templeton received yellows for kicking the ball away.  Worksop would reasonably claim to look the most likely to score in the first half-an-hour, but Goole gradually settled and started to pose a threat of their own.  Nevertheless it was the visiting side that took the lead on 37 minutes.  The ball was sent back into the box after a corner and Jamie Price was in the right place to poke the ball into the net. 1-0 The lead lasted only two minutes.  At the other end, a corner was also only partially cleared and the second phase gave Lund a chance to fire a shot into the roof of the net.  It was therefore level at the interval. It was interesting to see the Worksop subs being directed through a proper warm-up and workout by a member of staff during the break, instead of the aimless kickabout that you usually see.  I don’t think I have ever seen this before, and certainly not at Step 5. As the second half started, another late challenge earned a booking (Worksop’s Michael Trench) before both number 9s missed chances.  Goole’s Smith attempted a lob and then Worksop’s Mark Simpson shot straight at the keeper.  Then Goole’s other striker Marcel Chigumira volleyed wildly over from a right-wing cross. The winning goal came from a low shot from Steve Woolley, but Kyle Jordan will get the credit for the deflection that found its way past a wrong-footed keeper into the bottom left hand corner.  In truth Worksop were fairly comfortable after that, with only the occasional Goole break.  When Chigumira shot well over the bar again in stoppage time, we knew the points were going to the visitors.
Pix
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.  Table now based on my last 148 matches. Today, Green (fluorescent, but definitely green) loses unexpectedly to Pink. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 67% (2/3) 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 77.0 37.0 10.0 30.0 130.0 19.0 86.0 1.117 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 16.0 7.0 0.0 9.0 34.0 2.0 -3.0 -0.188 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!  Next week I have a choice between the FA Cup and my Step 3 priority list.  Maybe some randomishness again.