Dabbers Wiped Out by Mariners

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 1 September 2018 at Mariners Park
Result	South Shields 4 Nantwich Town 0
Competition	Northern Premier League (Step 3)
Hopstats	Ground 653 on the lifetime list and I am here non-randomly because I have found a sequence of fixtures that will hopefully work over the five Saturdays of September so that for the first time I can complete “The 248” (that is, everywhere in England for the top seven tiers of football), just in time for Spurs to mess it up by moving.
Context
9th plays 3rd but only one point between the sides.  Nantwich have played three at home and lost in their only away trip.  South Shields have 100% win and loss records for home and away respectively.  The hosts have achieved back-to-back-to-back promotions on their way up from Step 6, pausing to land the FA Vase whilst at Step 5.  Bit of WBA interest - Graham Fenton is joint manager of the hosts.
In one sentence
It took a penalty kick to break the stalemate, but then South Shields were brutal in their dismantling of the Nantwich defence.
So what?
South Shields up to 3rd, Nantwich down to 14th.
Match Report
South Shields dominated possession in the early stages and bossed the midfield.  They won three corners but created no clear chances.  The ball was moved quickly and everyone seemed confident in possession.  Gradually Nantwich seemed to realise that two could play at that game and the first real chance came from one of their freekicks, going just over the bar.  Immediately South Shields responded and it took a good save from orange-clad Will Jaaskelainen to keep the scores level.  By half-time both keeper tops were still pretty clean.  South Shields topped the possession and passing stats by miles but had nothing really to show for them, and Nantwich had coped well enough with the threats so far. The penalty that broke the stalemate came ten minutes into the second half, given for handball.  Despite a bit of sneaky spot-scuffing from Jaaskelainen, Robert Briggs calmly rolled in the penalty.  The game’s hinge point came five minutes later.  A header from a Nantwich corner was cleared off the line and they would come no closer to scoring. The second goal was excellent.  A long diagonal ball was chested down by Josh Gillies, sitting up nicely for a dipping unstoppable shot.  Two more late goals added some gloss finish to the scoreline.  Substitute and debutant Ben Harmison showed strength and perseverance to score at the second attempt, and then Nantwich were carved open one last time in a sweeping move down the left flank allowing Blair Adams to score from close range.
Pix
First impressions about this set-up are all favourable – an above-average stadium for attendance (1100+ today), programme quality, playing surface (including embedded sprinkler system), music/PA, clubhouse and number of refreshment outlets.  They will need to add a bit of height or tiering if crowds grow any more.  Home side in claret and blue.
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. Today, Green beats Orange, as expected, with a clean sheet too.  No change in colour positions in the table. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: South Shields Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 78% 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. After 154 games: 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 81.0 41.0 10.0 30.0 135.0 21.0 103.0 1.272 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 35.5 11.0 7.0 17.5 63.5 6.0 6.5 0.183 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!  The plan is Dorking Wanderers v Hartley Wintney in the FA Cup next Saturday followed by a trip to Scarborough Athletic the week after.  Then I need either Bamber Bridge or Alvechurch to get through to the Second Round Qualifying of the FA Cup AND be drawn at home for Saturday 22nd.  Those two clubs will occupy the last two Saturdays of the month.  If the FA Cup draw is unfavourable, then there is a midweek game at Alvechurch allowing me to reach the threshold target at Bamber Bridge on 29th September.  However … I have learned that weather and traffic do not always co-operate, and cup replays could also intervene.