Haddock, Cup Game, in Grimsby

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 6 August 2022 at Bradley Football Development Centre
Result	Grimsby Borough 2 Lincoln United 3
Competition	FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Hopstats	This is Ground #744 on the lifetime list, chosen because 25 Step 4 grounds (plus one at Step 3, Plymouth Parkway) are my priorities this season. This was the only game on my shortlist between two clubs playing at that level.
Context
Grimsby Borough have arrived in Step 4 this season as champions of the Northern Counties (East) Premier League. This ground has excellent facilities for this level, and had easily the best early-season grass surface that I’ve seen for a while.
In One Sentence
The tie was ultimately decided by two well-taken goals just before the interval, but Boro were so close to an equaliser in the dying moments.
So What?
Usual clichés for this weekend of the year – Lincoln United in the hat for the next round, Borough concentrate on the League. And the FA Trophy. And the League Cup. And Wordle.
Pre-match Entertainment
This week, a trip to the excellent Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre and the Ross Tiger trawler. The museum is a well-designed series of tableaux that follow the trawlermen from home to sea and back, and the fish from seabed to dinner plate, with plenty to get the interest of both adults and younger visitors. The trawler tour was in the company of Bob, who reached the position of skipper for many of the 52 years of his career. His expert commentary and compelling tales brought the visit to life. This pre-match visit exceeded all expectations and I recommend this experience highly as an insight into British social history, especially employment practices. One of the best museums of its type, in my view, and well worth at least a couple of hours of your time if you are up here for a game.
Match Report
The first issue for the visitors was the enforced late replacement of their new on-loan goalkeeper, but nevertheless Lincoln took the territorial and possession honours early on. It was somewhat against the run of play when Borough took the lead midway through the half. The ball went loose in the six-yard box and was tapped in after some pinball by Tom Jamieson. The lead lasted ten minutes. The equaliser was also a bundled-in-from-close-range affair and I could see why there were a few appeals for handball, and also why they were turned down. It happened very quickly and there is no way the assistant could have had a view through the crowd of bodies around the line. The goal is credited to Leo Priestley. Then Lincoln took control with two goals just before the break. The goal of the day was Shane Clarke’s low shot fizzing into the corner from about 25 yards. It was soon followed by a delicious cushioned lob by Tobias Liversidge who got on the end of a route one through ball, and the backpedalling keeper ended up in the net too. The two sides mostly cancelled each other out in the second half until a solid header from a corner put Tom Charlesworth's name on the scoresheet and gave us a nervy ending. Indeed, Borough came so very close to getting a replay in the closing seconds, the ball coming back off the post with the keeper beaten, but into a melée which gave him time to recover and dive on the ball. Loose ball drama in the closing moments
Match Pix
Grimsby Borough in Red.
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. The full keeper top performance table from my last 245 matches is here, on this separate page. This week, two shades of grey should have been a draw. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Draw Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 48% (48 from 100) 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! I’m hoping to tick off another Step 4 ground next week. The choice may depend on travel practicalities.