Rain Before Seven

 

Easter 2024 : The Wild West & Wolverhampton

Thursday 28 March

Postponed : Honiton Town v Sidmouth Town

Having spent over five torrid hours driving down from Hertfordshire, through horizontal rain at times and with a couple of genuinely scary motorway moments, I was amazed to find the game still on as I reached the ground. However, the match referee took a different view about 45 minutes before kickoff so that was that. At that moment, the prospect of the subsequent seven games all going ahead seemed very remote. The six SW grounds occupy positions 774 to 779 on my lifetime list. The Molineux visit was my third, but a quarter of a century since the second so it has changed a bit!

Friday 29 March

Torrington 1 Crediton United 0

Vicarage Field

SW Peninsula Premier East

Keeper Tops : Grey v Orange

Winning goal in the first half, fired into the top corner after a scramble. Crediton hit the bar once but Torrington held on throughout a range of weather conditions from spring sunshine to hailstorm. Add to list of "Grounds from which a Steeple is Visible".

Torridgeside 0 Okehampton Athletic 3

Donnacroft

SW Peninsula Premier East

Keeper Tops: Grey v Green

All the goals in the first half, started with a complete miskick from the man in Grey, and finishing with a direct freekick just under the centre of the bar where the said keeper had taken an unusual starting position at the far post. Visitors played the last few minutes with ten men after a dismissal for dissent. Can go on the list of “Grounds With Farm Animals Visible” and also onto the "Grounds Where I Also Saw a Rainbow".

Holsworthy 0 Bude Town 0

Upcott Field

SW Peninsula Premier West

Keeper Tops: Pink v Green

Fair play to the hosts who had done well to dry out part of the pitch with a space heater and they were rewarded with a gate of 906. A grimly entertaining game between two hyped-up teams and thankfully no broken ankles from the tackling.

Holsworthy were clearly in-tent on getting this game on

Saturday 30 March

Liskeard Athletic 2 Dobwalls 0

Lux Park

SW Peninsula Premier West

Keeper Tops: Orange v Green

A goal in each half sealed the result of a match that had started in a downpour. Lots of strong tackling on a wet surface. A Dobwalls sub appeared in a number 99 shirt. Ground can be added to list of “Grounds with the Same Name as a Unit of Measurement in Physics”.

Elburton Villa 1 Bovey Tracey 2

Haye Road

SW Peninsula Premier East

Keeper Tops: Radioactive Bile v Green

Bovey Tracey had the best kit design of the weekend. They took a two goal lead into the final half-hour but were lucky (from where I was standing) not to pick up a red card. Then what looked initially like a fabulous block did result in a red card for handball and the hosts scored from the penalty. The rest was rather undignified and fractious, with a red card for each side during over twelve minutes of stoppage time. Most of us just wanted this one to end.

Ivybridge Town 6 Dartmouth 0

Erme Valley

SW Peninsula Premier East

Keeper Tops: Blue v Yellow

The result reflected the league table top v bottom status but four of the goals were late on, and some credit has to go to the visiting keeper for the saves which kept the score in single digits. Ground can be added to the list of “Pitches adjacent to flowing water needing someone with a net”.

 

Sunday 31 March 2024

Arsenal Women 1 Chelsea Women 0 (aet)

Molineux, Wolverhampton

Women’s League Cup Final

Keeper Tops: Black v Yellow

Rather a disappointing game with the latter stages overshadowed by the collapse off the ball of Arsenal’s Frida Maanum, now thankfully recovering. It appeared that no-one wanted to be the one to make a mistake. Stina Blackstenius got the very late goal in extra-time that spared us from a penalty shootout. Ground can be added to list of "Grounds Also Known as Dingle Dell" to those itk.

 

The overall effect on the #keepertopcolourstats league table is here. Four more games and I will have a sample big enough for a proper statistical test, if I can teach myself how to do it. It’s called a Kruskal Wallis One-Way Analysis of Variance and I promise you that no other football blogger goes there. This is because they are sensible and I am not. Thanks, as ever, for your interest. Credit to the clubs and the organisers for getting these games on. A tremendous effort.

https://modushopperrandom.blogspot.com/p/p-w-d-l-gc-cs-pts-ppg-red-11.html