Sloping Off Down South for a Boxing Day Double

 

No programme from the first game. This is the cover of the e-programme from Horndean.

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Boxing Day, 26 December 2023 a)    The Rotherfield b)    The Stanley Drake Stadium, Five Heads Park
Results	a)    Midhurst & Easebourne 2 Pagham 0 b)   Horndean 2 Littlehampton Town 1
Competition	a)    Southern Combination Premier (Step 5) b)    Isthmian League Div 1 SE (Step 4)
Hopstats	Grounds 769 & 770 on the lifetime list, and I’m here non-randomly because the geographical closeness and helpful kickoff times made for an easy double hop.
Context
The first game is essentially a mid-table fixture. The second is from the lower half of the table. Horndean were promoted to Step 4 from the Wessex League last season and Littlehampton are in their second season at this level.
In One Sentence Each
A very late second goal for Midhurst & Easebourne was hard to take for Pagham who almost made the hosts pay for wasting second-half chances. Horndean did their damage in the first half and in the end were rather hanging on grimly after going down to ten men.
So What?
Midhurst & Easebourne up two places to 7th, Pagham down one to 13th. Horndean up a place to 14th, Littlehampton Town remain 17th.
Match Report : Midhurst & Easebourne v Pagham
It was an even, goalless first half with contrasting styles. The home side tried to play out patiently from defence, depending on their centre backs to pick a pass. Occasionally this would misfire and give the visitors a chance to break. Both keepers were occasionally called into action, but in truth there wasn’t a lot of incisive action to report. Midhurst and Easebourne took the lead after 53 mins with a nicely placed header from a right-wing cross, and soon after it took a good flying save from the Pagham keeper to prevent a second. In the closing stages, the home side missed several good one-on-one chances as Pagham were forced to commit to attack, and the second goal didn’t arrive until the fifth minute of added time.
Ground Pix
Picturesque location, a pronounced slope. Be aware that the turning into the car park is almost impossible to negotiate if approaching on the main road from the south.
Match Pix
Home side in blue.
Match Report : Horndean v Littlehampton Town
Both Horndean’s goals came in the first half, after a short delay due to floodlight issues. Thankfully, the smoke emerging from the base of the pylon turned out not to be a serious problem. Smoke drifting in from the left ... The first goal probably has to go down as a keeper error, and the second was a header from a set piece. The picture below is the moment just before contact. The visitors had looked pretty toothless in the first half but immediately showed more intent in the second and deservedly pulled a goal back. This was now an end-to-end game, largely fought in the midfield, but Littlehampton created two great chances to equalise, a header and a shot going just wide. The final quarter of the game was affected by a second yellow card for Horndean’s number 9. He had been booked for kicking the ball away at a free kick just a few minutes earlier. Then a heavy touch by the Littlehampton keeper took the ball outside the area, and not under his control. The referee saw 9’s challenge as serious foul play. As the nearest person in the ground to the incident, I have to say that I didn’t. The keeper was back up and running after minimal treatment. The closing stages were dominated by backs-to-the-wall defence by Horndean, and breaking into the corners to run the clock down whenever possible. It wasn’t pretty, indeed it was occasionally ugly. At one point the referee came over to the far side, opposite to the benches, and appeared to either remonstrate or show a card to someone. I can’t be sure of the details. Horndean hung on for the win and the three points.
Ground Pix
Another ground with a noticeable slope! Plenty of character with its hotch-potch of buildings and a concrete wall at one end to make speedy wingers think twice before hitting top speed.
Match Pix
Home side in red. Fading light at this point means fewer usable pix.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
Usually accompanied by a pre-match prediction on Threads just before kickoff. Working towards being able to compute a respectable test of statistical significance, it looks like an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test will be appropriate. The full keeper top performance table from my last 285 matches is here, on this separate page, and I’ll organise the test when we reach 300 pieces of evidence. Today we have a pair of defeats for Purple caused by M&E’s Green (as expected) and Horndean’s Yellow (not as expected), with a clean sheet for Green too. Pre-match Predictions based on Keeper Top Colour: Predictions: a)    Home Win & b) Away Win Were the predictions correct? a)    Yes & b) No % of correct predictions so far 48% (67 from 140)
What Next?
No definite plans, but hopefully another Step 4 ground ticked off somewhere in the country next Saturday. I have 24 left to do at that level, plus Plymouth Parkway at Step 3. I can now be found as grahamyapp on Threads, having abandoned the toxicity of Twitter since the misguided management of Elon Musk essentially ruined the platform.