Capon the Super Hero as Only One Bed Has a Clean Sheet

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 14 September 2019 at McMullen Park
Result	Bedford 0 Bedfont & Feltham 4
Competition	FA Vase 2nd Round Qualifying
Hopstats	Ground 703 on the lifetime list. Not random because I needed to stay fairly local today. Also attracted by punning opportunities relating to team names - double bed etc. In the end I have shown restraint except in the post title as usual.
Context
In the previous round both teams had a home win and a clean sheet. Bedford beat Burton Park Wanderers 2-0 and Bedfont & Feltham beat Lutterworth Athletic 5-0. They both play at Step 6 in the respective Division Ones of the Spartan South Midlands and Combined Counties Leagues. The visitors have a slightly better points-per-game record so far at this early stage of the season.
In one sentence
A second Bedfont & Feltham goal very early in the second half meant that the rest of the game could be managed with relative comfort.
So what?
Bedfont & Feltham are in next week’s draw, Bedford aren’t. The mainstream media pay a fortune for this kind of analysis.
Match Report
The ground is right next to Bedford Town and I cannot think of any pitches belonging to different clubs that are actually closer together than these. There is a decent amount of covered seating and benching down one side of the pitch. The A421 hums past continuously on the far side. Today was hot and a dry bouncy pitch had a sprinkling of water before kickoff. The opening Bedfont & Feltham goal came from a break after eight minutes. Jae Kelly received the ball in his own half and ran powerfully down the left towards the Bedford goal. As he cut inside the last defender’s challenge, the ball fell nicely for him to finish with a great shot across into the far corner. It really was a goal-of-the-season contender. Kelly almost made a second for Michael Capon almost immediately, but the flag was up for offside. Near misses for Capon would be a theme of the afternoon, but (spoiler alert) the fact that he ends up with a hat-trick shows you how open this game was. Bedford had two good chances around the midpoint of the first half. Firstly, the visiting keeper Kavanagh Keadell made a good recovery save after he had been unable to control a bouncy shot. Then he watched as Bedford pinged the crossbar. In fact both keepers were kept quite busy during the rest of an entertaining end-to-end half. I made a note that Bedford were getting closer to an equaliser a few minutes before the interval. The game-changer came only four minutes after the restart. Capon beat his marker got his head to the ball to score a second from close range.  He was then unchallenged ten minutes later as he glanced another header home with a well-timed run at a set-piece. Game over in practice, though Bedford kept going gamely, to their credit. 0-2 0-3 With space at the back, Capon had several chances to complete his hat-trick. He rounded the keeper but could only catch up with the ball in time to find the side-netting. He was denied by a good flying save. Yet another chance went just wide. Finally, in the 89th minute his treble was completed with a powerful shot on the turn. Bedford might feel that the final margin of victory was harsh but the visitors’ finishing was much better on the day.
Pix
Bedford in black and white. All pix today taken from the same position near the half-way line because I have to avoid exposing my delicate pale skin to the destructive energies of the sun. Sorry about that!  Distraction. B&F's #7 kept rolling up his shorts to 1970s Hoddle/Waddle lengths. No idea why unless he thinks he can run faster. Or he is worried about tan lines. Or chafing. Michael Capon wants the ball again.
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, Pink loses to Orange as predicted. No change yet again in the league table positions. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 53% (31 from 59) 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. P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 11.5 6.5 1.0 4.0 11.0 4.5 32.0 2.783 Grey 53.5 25.0 12.0 16.5 84.5 16.0 82.5 1.542 Blue 49.1 22.0 8.0 19.1 78.0 14.0 66.0 1.344 Green 111.0 55.0 12.0 44.0 194.0 25.0 108.0 0.973 Fire Cracker 3.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 6.0 1.0 2.0 0.667 Purple 22.0 8.0 5.0 9.0 45.0 6.0 14.0 0.636 Maroon 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 9.0 1.0 3.0 0.600 Orange 61.5 22.0 13.0 26.5 106.5 12.0 32.5 0.528 Radioactive Bile 24.0 9.0 1.0 14.0 51.0 4.0 -3.0 -0.125 Black 6.5 2.5 3.0 1.0 15.0 0.5 -2.0 -0.308 Yellow 39.0 10.0 9.0 20.0 88.0 7.0 -14.0 -0.359 Pink 20.0 6.0 5.0 9.0 42.0 1.0 -14.0 -0.700 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! At the time of writing, I have no idea where I will be next Saturday.