Right Place, Right Time and Never Been Better, In Case You Didn't Know

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 20 October at West Street
Result	Coggeshall Town 3 Canvey Island 3
Competition	Isthmian League Division One North (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 661 on my lifetime list. Here today non-randomly as it is a fairly short journey after an earlier dental appointment.  Working my way mostly through Step 4 for the rest of this season.  Just a trip to Felixstowe to be done at some point to complete this division.  LOTS of northern trips to be done!
Context
Coggeshall are new to Step 4 this season after winning the Eastern Counties League for their third successive promotion. They sit high in the table after a decent start, but only one place above Canvey Island.
In one sentence
For the home side, a spirited and resilient second-half performance followed an abject first half, and both sides will think they should have won.
So what?
The teams end the day 8th and 10th respectively in a very congested league table for this division. I suspect playoff places will be keenly contested right to the end of the season.
Match Report
The opening goal was a gift.  Coggeshall defender Tyler Brampton headed the ball back to the keeper James Bransgrove, but he had advanced already.  The ball looped gently into the six-yard box and Frankie Merrifield beat a team-mate to claim the tap-in.  That was after ten minutes and Canvey continued to boss the game.  Coggeshall could not keep hold of the ball and they blazed their first half-chance high in to the sky.  It was no real surprise when the visitors doubled their lead just after the half-hour.  A foul on the edge of the box yielded a free-kick, curled in by Martin Tuohy. The hinge point of this game was the 45th minute.  Canvey really should have put the game out of reach with their third goal on the break, but a quick clearance caught their defence napping.  An awkward bounce, a collision, and maybe the distraction of bright low sunlight, deceived keeper Harry Palmer and he was left out of position as Sam Bantik scored. Coggeshall started the second half in a much more positive and pacy mood.  The game developed into an open, end-to-end affair, and much more of a contest.  Canvey again had chances to increase their lead.  Two good saves from Bransgrove in succession kept Coggeshall in it.  The first was to push away a shot from Sam Collins and the second was a brave dive at the feet of an attacker. The home fans were delighted by the equaliser, in the 69th minute, a good curling shot into the corner by substitute Nnamdi Nwachuku.  The parity lasted only a minute before Collins’ worldie, a swerving shot from distance into the top corner.  A magnificent strike, and worthy of winning a game. Coggeshall still had other ideas, and their pressing eventually created the chance for Bantik to get his second of the day with a placed shot, low into the corner.  The game ended with a Canvey player needing lengthy treatment before they held on for a short time with ten men.  Great entertainment for the passing neutral. For some readers, the fact that I completely failed to notice the presence of co-owner Mr Murs will lead to head-shaking.  My excuse – I don’t watch TV and I tend to listen mostly to European neo-symphonic instrumental prog rock and Steely Dan.
Pix
Great surface, tidy ground and excellent clubhouse, funded by co-owner Olly Murs.  Well worth a visit, hoppers.  Coggeshall in the red and black.
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.  The table is now based on my last 162 games. Today, Green and Orange share the pain of a high-scoring draw, but not enough change to alter the league positions. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 65% (11 from 17) 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 40.1 18.0 7.0 15.1 56.0 14.0 75.0 1.870 Grey 47.5 22.0 10.0 15.5 79.5 13.0 61.5 1.295 Green 85.0 42.0 11.0 32.0 145.0 21.0 97.0 1.141 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 19.0 8.0 3.0 8.0 41.0 5.0 11.0 0.579 Radioactive Bile 20.0 9.0 0.0 11.0 40.0 3.0 2.0 0.100 Orange 37.5 11.0 8.0 18.5 72.5 6.0 -1.5 -0.040 Yellow 32.0 9.0 7.0 16.0 66.0 5.0 -7.0 -0.219 Pink 17.0 5.0 5.0 7.0 35.0 1.0 -10.0 -0.588 Black 6.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 15.0 0.0 -6.0 -1.000 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  If all goes to plan, an overseas lower-league diversion next weekend, and a chance to learn some football vocabulary in another language.

Went to Aldiss Effort for Non-League Day

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Non-League Day 2018 Saturday 13 October 2018 at Aldiss Park
Result	Dereham Town 1 Kempston Rovers 3
Competition	FA Trophy Preliminary Round
Hopstats	Ground 660 on the lifetime list, and I am here randomishly because Croatia v England was a 0-0 draw last night.  Other scorelines would have taken me to Felixstowe (1-0, 0-1, 4-0, 3-1, 2-2, 1-3, 0-4…) or Peterborough Sports (2-0, 1-1, 0-2 …).  A 2-1 or 3-0 scoreline either way would have brought me here too.  The evidence trail is there on Twitter, as excitement gripped the nation.  Not.  One “like” (out of sympathy I guess) is all I got.
Context
Both clubs are in the lower halves of their respective Step 4 divisions.  Dereham are part of the Isthmian League Division 1 North, while Kempston are in the Southern League Divison 1 Central.  Kempston won 3-1 at Barton Rovers in the Extra Preliminary Round, whilst Dereham enter the competition at this point.
In one sentence
An entertaining game in which Kempston scored the crucial first goal of the second half to seize the initiative.
So what?
Kempston go into the proverbial hat for the next round, drawn on Monday.  Dereham concentrate, as they say, on the league.
Match Report
The club had made an effort for Non-League Day and attracted a crowd of just over 200. This was an entertaining end-to-end game for the passing neutral, played in a warm breeze on a dry and bouncy pitch.  Kempston started with more possession and their wide men looked dangerous when running at the home defence.  The first real chance came to Dereham, a break leading to a lob that drifted just wide. The opening goal after 20 minutes looked from the other end to be a cracker.  A turn and curling shot into the top corner by Luke Heneghan gave the home keeper Elliot Pride no chance as the visitors took the lead.  Dereham deservedly drew level before half-time.  They had pressed with several corners in succession and a direct freekick that hit the post.  They finally broke through with Daniel Beaumont finding time and space in the centre to score from the edge of the area.  1-1 at half-time was a very fair scoreline. The second half started in end-to-end fashion.  A Dereham header clipped the bar, and then the Kempston keeper Martin Conway was forced into a sharp low save.  Then Kempston’s Nathan Tshikuna hit the post, and soon afterwards outmuscled two defenders before sending a cross-shot just high and wide. With the first signs of fatigue appearing, Kempston landed the decisive blow after 81 minutes.  Heneghan had lots of time and space in the centre to choose his spot for his second, in similar fashion to the Dereham goal.  Of course, this being a cup competition forced Dereham to attack and they were out of luck as the visitors caught them on the break and substitute Ben Acquaye stayed calm and composed to seal the win.
Pix
Dereham are The Magpies, so they are in black-and-white. Ben Acquaye makes it 3-1 to Kempston.
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 compiled from my last 161 games. Today, Blue beats Purple as expected, but no clean sheets.  Purple drops a couple of places in a congested mid-table. Helped by the post this time Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 69% (11 from 16) 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 40.1 18.0 7.0 15.1 56.0 14.0 75.0 1.870 Grey 47.5 22.0 10.0 15.5 79.5 13.0 61.5 1.295 Green 84.0 42.0 10.0 32.0 142.0 21.0 99.0 1.179 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 19.0 8.0 3.0 8.0 41.0 5.0 11.0 0.579 Radioactive Bile 20.0 9.0 0.0 11.0 40.0 3.0 2.0 0.100 Orange 36.5 11.0 7.0 18.5 69.5 6.0 0.5 0.014 Yellow 32.0 9.0 7.0 16.0 66.0 5.0 -7.0 -0.219 Pink 17.0 5.0 5.0 7.0 35.0 1.0 -10.0 -0.588 Black 6.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 15.0 0.0 -6.0 -1.000 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  Hoping to get to a good number of Step 4 grounds during the rest of the season.  41 of them to go, many of them up north, to complete that level and thus (until the next restructuring) “Doing the 388”.