Skye Blue Thinking

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 13 April 2019 at Kyleakin, Skye
Result	Kyleakin 3 NW Skye 1
Competition	Skye & Lochalsh Amateur Football League
Hopstats	Ground 692 on the lifetime list, and the second part of a live sporting double-header after the Skye v Lovat shinty earlier today (see previous post for report and pix).
Context
Second round of matches in the new season.  In the first round, Kyleakin won 4-3 away at GA United and NW Skye lost 3-1 away at Sleat & Strath.
In one sentence
Kyleakin were made to work hard for the win.
So what?
Two of the four games this weekend were postponed - one because of the lack of an available ref, and one because of lawnmower failure.  Therefore the early league table is rather meaningless but it shows Kyleakin second on goal difference, and NW Skye 7th (of 9).
Match Report
This is a splendid location within sight of the bridge linking Skye to the mainland.  Kyleakin took the lead early on with a very nice lob, maybe with an element of breeze assistance.  The equaliser after 25 minutes crept in at the far post after the home keeper had taken most of the pace off the ball.  However, Kyleakin took the lead again four minutes later.  A lunging challenge (pictured) was deemed to be a foul.  The home penalty taker hit the bar with the spotkick (picture 2 below) but fortunately one of his teammates reacted quickest to slot the ball just inside the far post (third pic).  The third goal, after half-time, came when an intelligent and untracked run from midfield allowed number 7 to plant a firm header into the net.  Kyelakin now had a two-goal cushion and were able to see out the game despite noble efforts from the visitors.  Of the three sporting contests I've seen on the island of Skye this week, this was the best.
Pix
Kyleakin in red.
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, Grey beats Green, but no clean sheet. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 56% (27 from 48) 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. The odd decimal places were caused either by half-and-half tops or sub keepers 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 Table not including this match - will update in a future post. P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 10.5 5.5 1.0 4.0 11.0 3.5 24.0 2.286 Grey 50.5 24.0 11.0 15.5 80.5 15.0 77.5 1.535 Blue 47.1 21.0 7.0 19.1 76.0 14.0 64.0 1.359 Green 105.0 52.0 12.0 41.0 183.0 23.0 100.0 0.952 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 54.5 20.0 12.0 22.5 93.5 10.0 28.5 0.523 Purple 21.0 8.0 4.0 9.0 45.0 5.0 8.0 0.381 Black 6.5 2.5 3.0 1.0 15.0 0.5 -2.0 -0.308 Yellow 36.0 9.0 8.0 19.0 77.0 6.0 -12.0 -0.333 Radioactive Bile 23.0 9.0 0.0 14.0 51.0 3.0 -9.0 -0.391 Pink 18.0 5.0 5.0 8.0 37.0 1.0 -12.0 -0.667 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  Typing this at Inverness Airport and will be back in England next week for a good chunk of the Hellenic League Easter Hop.