Get It On (The Spreadsheet), Bang a Gong

All the photos in today’s blog were taken on a cracked old Samsung smartphone.

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 18 September 2021 at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, Plough Lane
Result	AFC Wimbledon 0 Plymouth Argyle 1
Competition	League One (Third tier of English football)
Hopstats	Ground 727 on my lifetime list is not a random, or even randomish, choice. I’m here at this new stadium in order to take a step towards re-completing my “92” and “115” this week, before my CV19 antibody levels wane too much! Everywhere down to Step 1 would normally be 116 grounds but the National League is running this season with 23 rather than 24 teams after the demise of Macclesfield Town.
Context
This promises to be a good contest. Wimbledon’s games have seen more goals in total than any other side in the division. They have scored more than anyone whilst conceding a fair few too, also winning two league cup ties to set up a meeting away at Arsenal in the coming week. They sit 4th in the table, and the visitors are 8th. Plymouth are unbeaten in their last five league games, their only defeat being on the opening day of the season.
In One Sentence
A streetwise awayday points grab by the visitors, cemented by a robust defensive display and, shall we say, a bit of time management.
So What?
Wimbledon drop to 7th in the table, Plymouth go up to 4th.
Pre-match Entertainment
I enjoyed a recent walk through London so much that I decided to repeat the experience, this time from St Pancras to Vauxhall. The adjacent-rooftops obsession continues. The walk along the National Covid Memorial wall of hearts on the South Bank is an emotional few minutes. It is both somewhat tacky in parts and cumulatively devastating. A monument to mistrust and incompetence in the leadership of this nation. As a scientist myself I trust the “all-cause excess mortality” figure as the definitive measure of how well we are doing as a nation in managing the pandemic. It's the figure that shuts up the anti-vaxxers and the conspiracy theorists. For what it’s worth, the government agrees (I have it in writing from 10 Downing Street, many months ago when they thought they were world-beating) and I really don’t think history will be kind. The figure stands at 117,000 as of today. It's been a cull of the weak, the ignorant and in some cases, the unlucky. No other country in Europe has one larger. The only ones with a greater figure are the US, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and South Africa, all of whom have had recent political turbulence, some with a tendency towards dictatorship. Leaving the ridiculous behind, I stumbled unexpectedly into the sublime. I arrived at the ground just as a smallish crowd had gathered to witness the unveiling of a blue plaque to Marc Bolan of T.Rex. You’ll remember his distinctive style and his band’s string of hit singles if you are of a certain age.
Match Report
Before the game, club president Dickie Guy, goalkeeper from their semi-professional days and well-known to fans of my age for non-league FA Cup giant-killing exploits, was presented with the freedom of the borough. He's another legend in these parts. For the first quarter of the game, Wimbledon were on top, certainly territorially. The officials missed a slight push on his marker by Aaron Pressley but his shot was saved easily enough by Michael Cooper. Then a mishit clearance by Cooper presented Wimbledon with a shooting chance and he was fortunate to retrieve his error by tipping the effort away for a corner. Cooper would be busy for most of the first half-hour, and it seemed like only a matter of time before the home side took the lead. They were getting most joy down their left flank, reaching the byline several times with some neat interchanges of passing. It was almost half-time before Plymouth created their best chance from a free-kick on their left. Nik Tzanev could only parry a shot but in the ensuing chaos Cheye Alexander was in the right place to clear from the goal-line. I think James Wilson was the unlucky attacker. So, no score at the interval. The game’s only goal was very early in the second half. Ryan Hardie ran on to a perfectly weighted ball over the defensive line and kept his cool. Keeper and defender ended up prone on the grass as he slotted the ball into the empty net. Wimbledon responded in the first instance with a blatant dive in the penalty area, but then Ayoub Assal had more of a case within a minute, also denied by the increasingly less popular referee. There was a flurry of yellow cards and a word with the bench. Wimbledon changed things around with two substitutes. Cooper was deservedly booked for timewasting as Plymouth set about killing the game as a spectacle. We ended up with eight minutes of added time as a result of the broken play, but it is to their defensive credit that they did not allow Wimbledon a really clear chance. Whether the upcoming midweek trip to Arsenal affected any of the players, who can say, but the result has changed the order of these two teams in the table. For this passing neutral, not the greatest game, but there were a few hundred fans up from the south-west who will care not one jot.
Match Pix
AFC Wimbledon in blue and yellow.
Ground Pix
Very neat and tidy new build with good facilities, a good range of alternative menus including pasta and vegan alternatives, and organised recycling. This turned out to be my first placement in a “safe standing” area, and it was a very good experience. If you are in the Ry Stand for a daytime game, take a hat – some spectators were suffering somewhat with the sun. Thanks to the steward who found me an alternative seat – I don’t think I could have managed 90 minutes baking on the front row.
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 228 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, a rare outing for Black, at home to Green. Green takes the win and the clean sheet. 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 49% (41 from 83) 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! The next match should be a league cup tie, Brentford v Oldham Athletic, on Tuesday evening which will restore the 92 & 115 for the time being.