Rainy, Dear Me, Saw Chi. Ludum Duobus Dimidiis.

e-Programme (pdf)

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 3 October 2020 at Oaklands Park
Result	Chichester City 2 Risborough Rangers 1
Competition	FA Cup Second Qualifying Round
Hopstats	Ground 714, and a non-random visit because the home side announced very clear ticket-purchase arrangements earlier in the week, whereas there was some doubt about availability at my other options. It turned out well – the weather was grim for the drive down but cheered up at lunchtime.
Context
Step 4 (Isthmian League Division 1 South-East) plays Step 6 (Hellenic League Division 1 East) but the visitors are unbeaten this season. City are here by way of a penalty victory over Basingstoke and then a home win against Cribbs, but they have lost both league outings. Risborough have three league victories alongside the cup wins over Longlevens, Winslow United and Cobham. It looks as if this one might be closer than the pyramid would suggest.
In One Sentence
This was a hard-earned victory, probably deserved in the final analysis, but the visitors put up a very good fight and did not look two tiers lower.
So What?
As with all cup matches, the winners go into the proverbial hat on Monday and the losers concentrate on the league.
Pre-match Entertainment
Having set out early because of the prevailing weather, I had time for a walk around the city centre. My first visit here as it happens, and I have to say it made a great impression. It’s a gem. The pedestrianised centre is full of classic architectural character and not like the identikit redevelopment of so many English towns and cities. Lots of history and culture for the rounded groundhopper.
Match Report
I made my first written note on 17 minutes after Rangers had just missed a great chance on the break. Up to that point City had dominated the game territorially, creating a fair few half-chances down the right flank, and looking more likely to score. I winced at the sound of the ball hitting Rangers’ defender Josh Urquhart for a brave block, but he was soon up on his feet again. It was another break against the run of play that gave Rangers the lead just after the half-hour. A low first-time cross from the right wing was converted by Brian Haule for the first goal of the game. City continued where they had left off and continued to threaten. Scott Jones treated the spectators to a lob and an overhead kick, but neither led to a goal. We now had a classic home v away encounter in the sunshine. City forced a succession of corners just before the interval but Jack Brooker punched or deflected the crosses away to protect the lead. Half-time: Chichester City 0 Risborough Rangers 1 The home side made two changes for the second half, and the game quickly settled into the same pattern. The next goal was going to be crucial, and Risborough did offer a threat on the break. It took until the midpoint of the second half for City to get the equaliser. It is credited to sub Kaleem Haitham and it looked from my viewpoint at the other end like there had been a deflection.  The tide had turned now in favour of the home side whose confidence was growing by the minute. The winning goal was also fashioned down the right, and scored at the near post by Lloyd Rowlatt. Risborough had the odd dangerous moment – one ball rolled agonisingly along the six-yard line – but by and large Chichester were able to play out the last fifteen minutes or so to get into the next round. It was a very creditable away performance by the visitors, and the hosts were made to work hard for this win.
Match Pix
Chichester in the green and white stripes.
Ground Pix
Nice set-up with a good playing surface. I’d arrived early and so used the Northgate pay-and-display. The ground is approached by a small service road between two tennis courts.
Opinion
Nothing much I can add to comments in earlier posts about Covid-19 really. Once again the club as an entity was taking it all more seriously than the spectators as individuals. There was plenty of room for me to find a bit of space, and other people respected that, but as in every ground that I have been to so far this season, most people are quietly drawing their own social boundaries with friends and family. Either that or they have no sense of two metres. For me the experience was again arguably safer than my day job in the classroom.
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 215 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, the rarely-seen White beats Purple, but no clean sheet for either. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (34 from 70) 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 towards the latter.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! Hopefully ticking off another of my remaining 13 Step 4 grounds next weekend, but a lot depends on work, weather and a virus.