Bay Watch with History and Hospitality at Prescot Cables

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 29 December 2018 at Volair Park aka Valerie Park
Result	Prescot Cables 1 Colwyn Bay 2
Competition	Northern Premier League Division One West (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 671 on the lifetime list.  I am here because Prescot got 50% of the vote in a 30-minute Twitter poll on Saturday morning (turnout 14) beating Ramsgate and Slimbridge (22% each) with Sevenoaks losing their deposit.  Several other hoppers have spoken to me in hushed reverential terms about this ground, and I can see why.
Context
4th plays 10th with both teams enjoying big wins last time out on Boxing Day.
In one sentence
The more attractive side lost to the more effective side.
So what?
The teams remain 4th and 10th respectively, at least until New Year’s Day.
Match Report
Two well-drilled sides largely cancelled each other out for half an hour.  Prescot played mostly one- and two-touch football based on the ground in triangles, whereas Colwyn Bay as the away side worked the flanks and channels.  Neither goalkeeper, however, had to do more than routine catches and interceptions.  The first real chance fell to Colwyn Bay’s Lassana Mendes.  A neat dragback in the area created some space but his shot cleared the angle of post and bar.  The visitors continued to look dangerous and it took a risky slide tackle in the area to deny Danny Andrews a shooting chance, and one well-timed tackle by Cables’ number 8.  Thus the first half ended goalless. Colwyn Bay wasted a direct free kick before Prescot took the lead after 56 minutes.  Jack Lenehan moved intelligently to receive a flick-on from a throw in and he curled a super shot into the top left corner.  The lead lasted only six minutes, however.  Mendes won a race for the ball down the right flank before hitting a dipping shot over the keeper into the far left corner.  I was at the other end and first impression was of a fluke, but when you look at the clip on Bay’s Twitter feed it seems clearer that he must have intended it. Colwyn Bay then took control of the scoreline with a goal fashioned through the middle.  Ashley Woods had time to take a touch from Mendes’ pass and score the winner.  There was still plenty of life and spirit in Prescot but their task became harder after a straight red for Aaron Turner – it appeared to be for some kind of retaliation after a foul.  The idea that it was not the home team’s day was confirmed when a deflection pinged off the post and rebounded gently into the arms of the Bay keeper Andy Coughlin.  So close, but it then took a great save from his opposite number at the other end to deny Woods a second goal. Overall, a superb day for this passing neutral with the result in doubt to the end, and I just hope that the M6 roadworks finish soon as I make several more northern road trips in the new year.
Pix
What a fabulous place.  Very few grounds have a “Wow!” factor these days, but this one does.  I arrived early and walked a circuit with the camera.  This behaviour, together with a lack of club colours, a battered old rucksack and general aura clearly identified me as a hopper.  I am grateful to chairman Mr Doug Lace who invited me into the boardroom to look at some of the club memorabilia and shared some of his passion for the game, this club and its history.  There were shirts from notable former players such as Karl Connolly (QPR) and Carl Baker (Coventry).  Tony Hateley Sr and Frank Soo, the first player of a background other than English (he was Chinese) to play for England, also played here.  It was a magnificent welcome and I’m sorry that I didn’t bring any luck with me from Hertfordshire.  On the pics, Prescot Cables are in amber and black, which I now understand to have been the colours used for the insulation in the first generation of British electrical cables.  However, the club (founded 1884) pre-dates the British Insulated Cables company (1890) that became the town’s biggest employer. From 1894-5: precursor to the modern programme
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, no clean sheets but Pink loses to Green (as expected).  No change in the league table positions, now based on the last 172 games I’ve seen. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 67% (18 from 27) 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 Red 10.0 5.0 1.0 4.0 11.0 3.0 20.0 2.000 Blue 42.1 19.0 7.0 16.1 60.0 14.0 74.0 1.758 Grey 49.5 23.0 11.0 15.5 80.5 14.0 69.5 1.404 Green 89.0 46.0 11.0 32.0 149.0 22.0 110.0 1.236 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 20.0 8.0 4.0 8.0 42.0 5.0 11.0 0.550 Orange 44.5 14.0 8.0 22.5 82.5 7.0 2.5 0.056 Radioactive Bile 21.0 9.0 0.0 12.0 45.0 3.0 -3.0 -0.143 Yellow 34.0 9.0 7.0 18.0 73.0 5.0 -14.0 -0.412 Pink 18.0 5.0 5.0 8.0 37.0 1.0 -12.0 -0.667 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!  34 grounds left to complete Step 4 (I’ve had to add Lancing back in as Horsham’s current landlords pending a new build) and the next chance to tick one off is on New Year’s Day.