Anchors on the Rise - a D8 with Destination

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 20 November 2021
Result	Stockton Town 4 Tadcaster Albion 0
Competition	Northern Premier League (Division One) East (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 736 on my lifetime list and I am here because I rolled a 7 on a standard d8 octahedral die on Thursday evening. I am here by car (which was not the original plan) because of engineering works on the East Coast main line! Here’s the proof:
Context
Stockton’s recent league record is WLWDD and they sit in eighth place. Tadcaster’s is an anagram, LWWDD, but they are fifteenth. They are a few points away from their respective dotted lines for playoffs or relegation.
In One Sentence
A comfortable second half following on from a clinical first half.
So What?
As it happens, no change in the league position for either team, but the points gaps to those dotted lines have lessened.
Pre-match Entertainment
After a long drive, I had time to pause briefly at the Infinity Bridge in the last of the late morning sunshine. It gets the name because the bridge’s two arches, together with their reflections, look like the infinity symbol from the next bridges along the river. The other picture is of the Tees Barrage.
Match Report
Tadcaster looked ambitious early on and there was an element of unexpected softness about Stockton’s first goal. A ball over the top into Route One gave Alfie Conway a shooting chance and although keeper Ally Hughes got a touch, the ball nestled in the corner of the net. Tadcaster continued to look neat in midfield but the second good chance also came to Stockton, with Nathan Steel shooting over the bar. We had reached the midpoint of the first half.  The second goal was probably the hinge point of this game. Mikey Roberts was bundled over in the penalty area by Romario Vieira and he scored from the spot himself.  Then, still only just after the half-hour mark, a neat lay off from Roberts to the onrushing Dan McWilliams gave the defender the opening to score the best-worked goal of the day. For once this season, the action had been right in front of me rather than at the other end. It would now have to be something exceptional to deny Stockton the points. The second half would need an early response from Tadcaster to change the story, but Stockton could now play risk-free football. The visitors continued to look neat in midfield with some good running with the ball, but the defence stayed disciplined to shepherd them wide or to block when the time came. It looked fairly straightforward as these things go. The purple-clad Callum Roberts had nothing much to do except to boot a child’s football (accidentally to be fair) straight out of the ground. The only time Tadcaster had the ball in the net, it was correctly disallowed for handball, and in any case by then Stockton had added their fourth, a classic far post header from a set piece, scored by Adam Nicholson. This passing neutral has to be content with an impressive demolition job done rather than a result in doubt until the end.
Match Pix
Stockton in yellow and blue.
Ground Pix
Artificial surface, part of a shared complex with the sixth form college. A substantial clubhouse is at the other end of the site. On arrival, turn left for the pitch, right for the bar.
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 237 matches is here, on this separate page. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (45 from 92) 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! Thirteen grounds to go at Step 4, seven northish and six southish, most of them quite long trips (especially Guernsey!). It’s possible that the season for pitch inspections and postponements will arrive soon, so it may be a while before the next one. In such cases the declaration that the game is on rarely gives me time enough to travel.

 

Digging Deep to Secure the Win

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 13 November at the Regional Electrical Services Ltd Stadium, Beechnut Lane
Result	Pontefract Collieries 2 Hebburn Town 1
Competition	Northern Premier League (Division One) East (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 735 on my lifetime list was selected by a convoluted method which is explained in full detail on this Twitter thread. I decided that I could draw the attention of more people to the Register of Members’ Final Interests given some of the news coverage earlier in the week from Westminster. It’s something that everyone should look at for their own MP. I had six unvisited Step 4 grounds on my shortlist. In alphabetical order of team name, I added up the figures on the register for extra earnings and donations for each local MP. The MP for Chippenham (including Melksham Town), Rt Hon Michelle Donelan, gets a right honourable zero against her name. Likewise Robert Largan, MP for High Peak (covering Glossop North End) scored a technical zero as no actual value is assigned to his part-interest in a London property. Craig Whittaker MP for Calder Valley (Brighouse Town) opened with £3457 worth of Euro hospitality in his total of £4232, but was soon overtaken by Nigel Evans MP (Ribble Valley, Clitheroe) also with some football-related interest (courtesy of Qatari sources) in a total of £8912.67. The runner-up was Tim Loughton MP (his constituency includes Lancing) with £65450 made up mostly of two additional salaries for 22hrs/month but the winner was Yvette Cooper MP for this patch. £73388 of donations for office and campaigning from a company based in Hertfordshire plus a bit of rugby league hospitality and book earnings gave a total of £79131, comfortably enough to bring me here. It’s randomish in the sense I had no idea what the outcome would be when I started the thread. It’s not random in the mathematical sense as not all outcomes were equally likely. Here’s the link to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests so you can have a look at your own representative, or just dip in at random and be amazed at the extent and variation.
Context
Not much time for detailed research this week but did spot that both teams had a proper tonking (technical term) last time out. Pontefract went down 4-0 at Shildon while Stocksbridge won 5-1 at Hebburn. I saw Hebburn just a few weeks ago. The teams start the day in 18th and 13th places in the division, and both have announced a new signing this week.
In One Sentence
Hebburn were wasteful with several set pieces and Pontefract’s debutant striker scored both goals to ensure a home win.
So What?
The teams are now 17th and 14th respectively. We are about a third of the way through the season.
Pre-match Entertainment
A brief walk around the town centre, which has a lot of blue plaques on some interesting old buildings. It’s great to see a town centre with character which isn’t an identi-build collection of the same old retail names, but on the other hand there were definite signs of economic stress. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I witnessed an incident and had to spend some time giving a statement to the police, and therefore didn't have as much time as I would have liked. Maybe a re-visit in July for this ... ?
Match Report
For the first quarter of an hour the teams largely negated each other. Both defences were good in the air, and Hebburn’s two early set pieces came to nothing. Connor Bell came closest, just over-running a curling pass from the right so that it comically hit his back leg.  Then someone tried to catch Hebburn keeper Kieran Hunter off his line from distance, but the shot went wide. Hebburn’s next chance was even better. They worked the ball down the right again, drawing the keeper out and taking him out of the equation, but a defender had got back to be in just the right position to intercept and clear the final pass. Pontefract took the lead in the 34th minute with a debut goal from Rob Guilfoyle. For the rest of the first half I was somewhat distracted and disgusted by the loud political ranting and rambling of a nearby spectator on matters of Brexit, immigration and events at Yorkshire Cricket. After the earlier experience, this time I chose, rightly or wrongly, not to get involved. It’s midnight as I draft this and it’s still bothering me somewhat. The second half also started with a couple of fruitless set-pieces for Hebburn before Pontefract spurned a chance of their own, with a shot curled over the bar. Just after the hour they eventually doubled their lead. I’d moved to the other end, but it looked as if the ball broke kindly for Guilfoyle, or maybe it was a good through ball, but whichever it was he then had an uninterrupted run on goal for a neat, easy finish. Hebburn kept going and the home defence were kept busy. Finally they converted a free-kick for a consolation goal with a few minutes left. It was a really good shot by Michael Richardson into the top corner from a central position. For this passing neutral, this was a good contest between two physically strong sides, with the result in doubt for long periods. I’m not going to let one resident and one supporter spoil my day, or my impression of the club.
Match Pix
Pontefract in blue. Apologies for the poor quality this week. I was trying some manual settings on my camera as the natural light faded and I didn't get them right.
Ground Pix
Another ground close to a train line, though the trees mean that they are more audible than visible. Top old-school whiteboard work here (I'm jealous) See HERE for more fantastic examples of Non-League bins on this Facebook page (not mine, but I do occasionally contribute)
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 236 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, Orange beats Green, but no clean sheet for either. Pontefract keeper Ryan Musselwhite has inherited the right genes, as many readers will recognise. Here is a picture of him pacing around in each half. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (45 from 91) 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! Fourteen Step 4 grounds to go, almost all of them well over 200 miles per round trip. Whether it will be realistic to get to Guernsey as one of them remains to be seen. We are also entering the season of bad weather and pitch inspections, so it will be a month of late decisions and late substitutions.

When Herts Refuse to Be Beaten

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 6 November 2021 at New Cuthbury
Result	Wimborne Town 3 Kings Langley 3
Competition	Southern League Premier Division South (Step 3)
Hopstats	Ground 734 on the lifetime list. Wimborne’s new ground is the only one currently left for me at this level, and this is the first fixture here since I completed the new Step 2 grounds at York, Gloucester and Bolton earlier this season. So this isn’t random, but it completes “The 243” which is all the grounds in the first seven tiers in England. There are 245 teams in those divisions but two (Cray Wanderers & Kingstonian) are currently groundsharing with grounds already counted in that total. Another three (Hendon, Truro City and Rushden & Diamonds) share with clubs who operate in a lower tier.
Context
The clubs occupy the bottom two places in the division with six points each, although Wimborne do have two games in hand.
In One Sentence
A very entertaining game for the passing neutral, and a red card didn’t stop the visitors from grabbing a point with a very late equaliser.
So What?
Both on seven points, closing the gap by one to Merthyr Town who lost today.
Match Report
I’d only just finished tweeting the #keepertopcolourstats prediction when Wimborne had the lead. The ball was turned in from close range by Lewis Beale. Kings Langley had the ball in the net themselves within a minute but there was an offside call. After this crazy start the game settled, and the visitors started probing, enjoying the major share of possession. However, they wasted a couple of set pieces from good positions and when Beale scored again after 18 minutes it looked as if Kings Langley were going to be all style and no substance. The incident was on the far side of the ground from me (a regular occurrence this season) but Wimborne’s Charlie Gunson was perhaps slightly fortunate that the ref waved yellow rather than red after a moment of retaliation. The home side then had a good chance for a third before the visitors got on the scoresheet to make a game of it. It was a good finish across the goalkeeper to the top corner (pictured) by Harrison Crawford, leaving debutant Ryan Hall with no chance to save. Half-time arrived with the result still in doubt, just the way that us neutrals like it. After the break, Kings Langley continued with their policy of playing out from the back, with the ball on the deck for the most part. With only 50 minutes on the clock, Crawford slotted home his second and the equaliser from a very neat move, triangles everywhere. However, in less than a minute, Wimborne had the lead again. There was a push in the penalty area and Beale completed a hat-trick by converting the spot-kick. Kings Langley were not yet beaten. Hall had to be alert to smother the ball at the feet of Crawford, who could then have had his own hat-trick. His header, from another neat passing move down the left, went just wide. As we entered the final quarter, Wimborne exerted some pressure of their own, presumably having decided that three might not be enough. Then came the red card for Crawford, adjudged to have made a dangerous challenge. Wimborne pushed again for their fourth but Kings Langley did just enough to hold on, and we had reached stoppage time before another lovely flowing move down the left ended up with two subs queuing up at the far post to score. It was Will Hoskins with the final touch, whose name will be familiar to quite a few EFL supporters from his earlier career exploits. Even that wasn’t the end of the action, and just before the final whistle it took a sharp save from keeper Alfie Marriott at the other end to protect the hard-won point. I think both sides will feel they could and should have won, it was that sort of occasion.
Match Pix
Wimborne in white and black.
Ground Pix
Very well-appointed new build as you would expect. Grass pitch with an adjacent artificial surface for training.
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 235 matches is here, on this separate page. This week, two shades of blue share a draw and there is no change in the positions, a result which also brings the prediction success rate back to 50%. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Draw Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 50% (45 from 90) 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! There are now 15 Step 4 grounds on my priority list which would complete the ninth tier. We are moving into the season of potential weather disruption, though, so there may have to be late, pragmatic decisions if I am to get through them all this season. Random or randomish decisions will be back whenever possible.