Battering Rams

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 12 September 2020 at Southwood Stadium
Result	Ramsgate 0 Chipstead 3
Competition	FA Cup Preliminary Round
Hopstats	Happy Birthday to the blog itself! Modus Hopper Random took its first tentative steps on Friday 10 September 2010, announcing its own birth just before heading out to Witney United v Kidlington. The match report followed two days later after I got to grips with the Blogger interface, and I’m pleased that the tradition of punning in the post title has been maintained ever since, along with some tongue-in-cheekiness. This is ground 711 on the lifetime list and I am here non-randomly because the club made tickets available online in plenty of time.
Context
Not much that can be said as it is the first competitive game of the season for both these Step 4 Isthmian League sides. Ramsgate are in the South-East and Chipstead are in the South-Central divisions respectively. The league seasons start next week, all being well.
In One Sentence
Competence from Chipstead and below par from Ramsgate, and in the end a comfortable win.
So What?
Ramsgate concentrate on the league, Chipstead are in the hat for the next round, and any other clichés applicable in this situation.
Pre-match Entertainment
On arrival in the town, a few miles around the harbour and along the promenade, taking in the uniquely English seaside vibe. Very pleasant, it has to be said. Trivia: Smack Boys were mostly from the workhouse and were the apprentices on the fishing vessels, known as smacks. At the ground, my first bacon baguette in six months followed by a bit of hanging around a cage at a safe distance from the youngsters watching Jack Downer aka Street Panna (he’s an influencer just like me (cough) except with 185x more followers and better hair) demonstrating his nutmeggery tekkers. I also observed sterling work by the club’s mascot. Now there was a man not at ease with his costume on a very warm day, but he stuck to his task – and his trousers – well. Street Panna (Jack Downer) makes some more links
Match Report
The first half was soporific and forgettable in the warm sunshine. One Chipstead shot was beaten away, and some of the supporters started discussing politics instead. I heard the raised voices before I realised the context. It didn’t go well, and I have more to say on this below. On the pitch, at last there was some football action of note with virtually the last kick of the half. Tom Collins was fouled and hit the bar with the resulting freekick. The rebound ended up with a chance taken by Spencer Cripps to open the scoring. Half-time: Ramsgate 0 Chipstead 1 Chipstead killed the game off more or less with two more goals before the hour mark. A bouncing ball caused defensive problems for Ramsgate. Again Collins was involved in challenging for the initial cross, and the ball popped up for Jack Beadle to loop a gentle header over the keeper and over the line. Within two minutes, the best goal of the day, and annoyingly for Ramsgate scored on the break after they had at last threatened something themselves. Sam Bell, who was frequently the outlet for Chipstead attacking moves on the right flank, broke clear into a good central position and buried the shot.  That was more or less game over, but still with time for Oliver Pain to save a Ramsgate penalty by diving to his right. The home side will have to have better days when the league season starts up.
Pix
This is a fantastic venue with an old-school feel. Ramsgate in red.
Opinion
Congratulations to Ramsgate FC for taking the chance to spruce up the ground before the start of the season. The stewarding and signage was very good, and very sensible and clear one-way systems were in operation for the refreshments. I arrived early and the ground was already alive with two children’s matches and street-soccer activity in the two cages at one end of the ground. It felt very warm and vibrant. Ticketing arrangements had been very good too, and I generally felt safe and uncompromised in relation to hygiene and social distancing. The manager gave an interview over the PA before kickoff and made a point of welcoming the supporters and especially the large number of youngsters in attendance. At a couple of points during the match, the club was let down somewhat by the unchallenged behaviour of some of its supporters. Two grown men got into a very loud political argument lasting several minutes and their language, unparliamentary shall we say, was embarrassing. They have the right to hold their opinions of course but the rest of us, including the large number of youngsters in the vicinity, should not have to put up with that. The debate technique consisted of shouting and swearing loudly until the other participant gave up and walked off. I also watched a bunch of youngsters deliberately discard and crush their drinks cans, leaving them on the floor for someone else to clear up with a bin no more than ten paces away. In days gone by I might have said something in both cases, as I would in my workplace of course, but in 2020 and at the age of 62 I feel less inclined to put myself into those situations in public. It just takes a bit of the shine off the day. Mr Shouty was very concerned about protecting English culture from the invaders. If this is representative of it he can keep it, and the club and its excellent army of volunteers deserves better. As at all of the matches I’ve attended this season, spectators were largely considerate of spacing to other people but are clearly paying scant attention to social distancing in their chosen friend-and-family groups. Certainly among the dozens of youngsters watching the cage action, there was no evidence of social distancing or of relevant parental expectation. As for me, I felt safe enough and would go again because it was possible for me to err on the side of caution and find open spaces without being forced into difficult situations.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
Usually accompanied by a pre-match prediction on Twitter just before kickoff. Working towards being able to compute a respectable statistical significance test by the end of the season. The full keeper top performance table from my last 212 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, Blue loses to Purple, and the clean sheet sends Purple several places up the league table. The overall prediction success rate falls below 50% for the first time in 67 games. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (33 from 67) 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 undeniable half-and-half tops or lower league 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 (and supported by anonymous scientists of some description) that orange is the best colour for a goalkeeper because it changes the behaviour of other players around the box. It is supposedly because of an innate primeval human reaction to the colour and the colour “spreads” more in the vision of a striker at the key moment of decision. Genius or garbage? The evidence is gathering here, and is leaning in the direction of the latter.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! If possible I will tick off one of my two remaining Step 3 grounds at Atherton Collieries next weekend.