One Step Beyond Last Season

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 14 August 2021 at Bury Road
Result	Stowmarket Town 2 Canvey Island 2
Competition	Isthmian League Division 1 North (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 721 on the lifetime list. My nearest unvisited Step 4 ground hosting a game today.
Context
First league game of the new season, and first at this level for Stowmarket who were (deservedly) promoted in the end-of-last-season reorganisations.
In One Sentence
Stowmarket refused to be beaten, equalising twice in a very entertaining game with the result in doubt right to the final whistle.
So What?
Too early to say very much except that Stowmarket showed every sign that they will be competitive.
Pre-match Entertainment
A walk (and a few nettle stings) along the banks of the River Gipping and then back through the town centre. Not as rural as I’d thought, as it turns out that it runs directly behind an industrial estate. The river itself is bursting with reeds and buddleia, and therefore bees and butterflies. Good enough exercise for working up the appetite for the pre-match visit to the club’s excellent refreshment bar. The stadium seemed to have Madness’ Greatest Hits playing on a loop which was an unexpected bonus.
Match Report
The visitors dominated the possession in the early stages but it took them 13 minutes to create their first real chance. A fierce shot from the right by Matthew Price was parried by home keeper James Bradbrook. The hosts’ first chance was on the half-hour. On the break, with the gusty wind making it tricky to judge the flight of the ball, George Bugg got to the ball before keeper Bobby Mason, but with an open goal beckoning he rolled a left-foot shot into the side netting. The away supporters went quiet for a moment, realising that had been a narrow escape. The breakthrough came after 34 minutes, as Canvey took the lead through Evans Kouassi. He had been causing problems with pace and footwork already and had switched to the left. Connor Hubble showed good anticipation to win the ball on the right flank. It was efficiently switched to the left and Kouassi, who dribbled into the area and got a shot across the keeper into the far corner from a narrow angle. Probably a deserved lead, but one that could have been defended. Both sides had chances in a flurry of activity before the interval. Stowmarket scuffed another one, and Bradbrook and his defenders had to make some timely blocks. A 0-1 score at half-time felt just about right on balance of play. Who knows what words were said at half-time, but it only took five minutes for Stowmarket to equalise. A superbly floated cross from the right was met on the run by Josh Mayhew who scored with an excellent header. Canvey responded and re-took the lead with another good header ten minutes later. This time Price was in the right place to despatch the cross after good combination work down the left flank by Jay Siva and substitute Tobi Tinubu. It is to Stowmarket’s great credit that Canvey were unable to see out the win from there. Evan Collard received the ball on the left of the area and scored his side’s second equaliser of the day, still with about twenty minutes to go. The rest of the game remained very entertaining for the passing neutral. Both sides had a chance to win it, neither side seemed to be settling for the point. Not a bad result for either side for the first day of a new season. Acknowledgement: the club Twitter timelines for confirming a few names for when the action was at the other end!
Match Pix
Ground Pix
The ground seems to have benefited from work done ahead of the step up, and the e-programme explains the use of a £25000 prize grant (and some work that is still needed). It’s neat and tidy and looked-after, with economical use of recycled material to provide the pitchside barriers to fill in the Step 5 rail. The clubhouse and refreshments area are better than many, and it felt safe enough. I’m choosing to maintain social distancing for a while longer as yet, and it was easily done with no problems. The pitch itself was good enough to allow a passing game.
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 222 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, we have two shades of green facing up to each other. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Draw Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 49% (38 from 77) 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! Destination as yet undecided for next Saturday but likely to be an FA Cup tie.

Right Place, Right Time and Never Been Better, In Case You Didn't Know

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 20 October at West Street
Result	Coggeshall Town 3 Canvey Island 3
Competition	Isthmian League Division One North (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 661 on my lifetime list. Here today non-randomly as it is a fairly short journey after an earlier dental appointment.  Working my way mostly through Step 4 for the rest of this season.  Just a trip to Felixstowe to be done at some point to complete this division.  LOTS of northern trips to be done!
Context
Coggeshall are new to Step 4 this season after winning the Eastern Counties League for their third successive promotion. They sit high in the table after a decent start, but only one place above Canvey Island.
In one sentence
For the home side, a spirited and resilient second-half performance followed an abject first half, and both sides will think they should have won.
So what?
The teams end the day 8th and 10th respectively in a very congested league table for this division. I suspect playoff places will be keenly contested right to the end of the season.
Match Report
The opening goal was a gift.  Coggeshall defender Tyler Brampton headed the ball back to the keeper James Bransgrove, but he had advanced already.  The ball looped gently into the six-yard box and Frankie Merrifield beat a team-mate to claim the tap-in.  That was after ten minutes and Canvey continued to boss the game.  Coggeshall could not keep hold of the ball and they blazed their first half-chance high in to the sky.  It was no real surprise when the visitors doubled their lead just after the half-hour.  A foul on the edge of the box yielded a free-kick, curled in by Martin Tuohy. The hinge point of this game was the 45th minute.  Canvey really should have put the game out of reach with their third goal on the break, but a quick clearance caught their defence napping.  An awkward bounce, a collision, and maybe the distraction of bright low sunlight, deceived keeper Harry Palmer and he was left out of position as Sam Bantik scored. Coggeshall started the second half in a much more positive and pacy mood.  The game developed into an open, end-to-end affair, and much more of a contest.  Canvey again had chances to increase their lead.  Two good saves from Bransgrove in succession kept Coggeshall in it.  The first was to push away a shot from Sam Collins and the second was a brave dive at the feet of an attacker. The home fans were delighted by the equaliser, in the 69th minute, a good curling shot into the corner by substitute Nnamdi Nwachuku.  The parity lasted only a minute before Collins’ worldie, a swerving shot from distance into the top corner.  A magnificent strike, and worthy of winning a game. Coggeshall still had other ideas, and their pressing eventually created the chance for Bantik to get his second of the day with a placed shot, low into the corner.  The game ended with a Canvey player needing lengthy treatment before they held on for a short time with ten men.  Great entertainment for the passing neutral. For some readers, the fact that I completely failed to notice the presence of co-owner Mr Murs will lead to head-shaking.  My excuse – I don’t watch TV and I tend to listen mostly to European neo-symphonic instrumental prog rock and Steely Dan.
Pix
Great surface, tidy ground and excellent clubhouse, funded by co-owner Olly Murs.  Well worth a visit, hoppers.  Coggeshall in the red and black.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
New this season – a pre-match prediction based only on keeper top colours as a preliminary test of the data.  Proper statistical significance test to follow in due course.  The table is now based on my last 162 games. Today, Green and Orange share the pain of a high-scoring draw, but not enough change to alter the league positions. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 65% (11 from 17) 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. For new readers the odd .5 was caused by a shocking half-and-half shirt and the .1 was due to a substitute goalkeeper 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 that orange is the best colour for a goalkeeper because it changes the behaviour of other players around the box.  It may not be statistically significant as yet, but football coverage ignores this point as a matter of routine. P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 10.0 5.0 1.0 4.0 11.0 3.0 20.0 2.000 Blue 40.1 18.0 7.0 15.1 56.0 14.0 75.0 1.870 Grey 47.5 22.0 10.0 15.5 79.5 13.0 61.5 1.295 Green 85.0 42.0 11.0 32.0 145.0 21.0 97.0 1.141 Fire Cracker 3.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 6.0 1.0 2.0 0.667 Maroon 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 9.0 1.0 3.0 0.600 Purple 19.0 8.0 3.0 8.0 41.0 5.0 11.0 0.579 Radioactive Bile 20.0 9.0 0.0 11.0 40.0 3.0 2.0 0.100 Orange 37.5 11.0 8.0 18.5 72.5 6.0 -1.5 -0.040 Yellow 32.0 9.0 7.0 16.0 66.0 5.0 -7.0 -0.219 Pink 17.0 5.0 5.0 7.0 35.0 1.0 -10.0 -0.588 Black 6.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 15.0 0.0 -6.0 -1.000 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  If all goes to plan, an overseas lower-league diversion next weekend, and a chance to learn some football vocabulary in another language.