The Ites Have It, The Ites Have It

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 15 April 2023 at Holm Park
Result	Sheppey United 2 Lancing 0
Competition	Isthmian League Division One South-East (Step 4)
Hopstats	First hop for a while – have had lots of commitments with work and supporting my grandson’s games in recent weeks. Ground #766 on the lifetime list, and I’m here pragmatically for the chance to use the train rather than the car, plus I could combine a hop with a walk in the spring sunshine.
Context
Sheppey start the day just outside the play-off places in the division. Lancing are in lower mid-table but still not technically safe from a step 4/5 relegation playoff. The fact that the result matters to both sides is usually a good thing for hoppers at this end of the season.
In One Sentence
The right result, but the home side left it very late and very, very late to get their goals.
So What?
Results elsewhere saw Chatham Town clinch the divisional title by taking points off playoff rivals Cray Valley PM (who retain a game in hand). Ramsgate and Whitehawk took points from each other in their draw, and Beckenham Town drew at home (though also have a game in hand). All of this moved Sheppey United into fourth position for now. Lancing still retain control of their fate, and may need to win their final game at home to mid-table Sittingbourne next weekend, while Sheppey travel to …. Cray Valley PM. The above-mentioned games in hand are on Tuesday evening and there will be much to play for next week. Incidentally, Sheppey were in Step 5 last season and came up as champions of the Southern Counties East.
Pre-match Entertainment
Train via London to Queenborough, then a riverside walk, followed by a walk up to the ground...   Photo retained solely for the purpose of a "Wooooah" joke.
Match Report
It’s difficult to write much of interest relating to the first half. Sheppey shaded it, but only just, on the basis of half-chances created and territorial advantage. The mysteriously-clad (see below) visiting keeper Alieu Secka was a bit busier than his green-shirted counterpart. I noted that Sheppey were playing out from the back and were comfortable on the ball, but they struggled to keep possession higher up the pitch. It makes me wonder how teams manage to play one style at home and another more pragmatic one when away on a typical Step 4 grass pitch, and what the implications are for the coaching and training schedules. I have no idea, and as you can see, I was a bit bored at this point. I stayed at the same end for the second half, and was a lot closer to the action as Sheppey sought to impose themselves more on the game. Perhaps words had been said at half-time. If so, they worked. The home team got the ball into dangerous areas more frequently and used both flanks to good effect. It took some sterling defensive work from Lancing to keep the score level, and it looked as if they had been equal to the task. Then in the 88th minute, Danny Leonard got to the right-hand byline, directly in front of me. He chipped the ball invitingly into the six-yard box and Sheppey players were queuing up to finish. Bradley Shafer’s header was unstoppable and he had to suffer this celebration. Look closely and he was still smiling at this point even at the bottom of the pile-on. I even found on Twitter a pic of me (in the stylish green hat) taking the photo!   Pic via Simon Beard (@beardo10) on Twitter A second goal was added in stoppage time. Warren Mfula broke through from the halfway line, beat his man, and kept his composure to find the back of the net. Overall a deserved victory which keeps the Sheppey season alive with hopes of back-to-back promotions. 2-0 in stoppage time
Other Match Pix
Sheppey in red and white.
Ground Pix
This is a neat and tidy ground, with good facilities and friendly people. I hadn’t realised that it was an artificial surface, maybe just as well since nearby Sittingbourne was off due to waterlogging. Competitive pricing and good publicity had resulted in a crowd of over 700 today.
Post-match Entertainment
Another riverside walk, this time in the twilight between trains, across London from Victoria to Blackfriars.
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 268 matches is here, on this separate page. From a distance, I originally called the Lancing top as a (Charcoal) Grey (having decided it was different enough from the black of the referee’s top) but after the change of ends I had to change my opinion in favour of a very dark Blue as the dominant colour. I did this before the first goal, honest.   Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 44% (54 from 123)   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! Happy that grandparenting takes precedence next weekend so this might be the end of season for me, we’ll see.