Man Goes to See Mangos

e-Programme

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 17 October at Cossham Street
Result	Mangotsfield United 1 Cinderford Town 2
Competition	FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round
Hopstats	Ground 716 on the lifetime list. Not a random visit, this one. Chosen for pragmatic reasons, ticking off one of my longer remaining Step 4 journeys given a dry weather forecast, and choosing an area in the lowest risk category for CV19 case numbers.
Context
This is a knockout game, of course. Both clubs are at Step 4 in the Division One South of the Southern League. It’s fair to say that Mangotsfield have had a rotten start to the season with four league defeats and an FA Cup loss. Cinderford started well enough, and went one further round in the FA Cup, but arrive here on the back of three big defeats. The Goals Against columns for both teams suggest that this will not be 0-0.
In One Sentence
Cinderford secured the win with a workmanlike first half display and then coped well enough with the Mangotsfield second-half improvement.
So What?
The usual cliché about Mangotsfield concentrating on the league and Cinderford looking forward to being in the hat for the next round draw.
Match Report
Nothing of note from the sparring of the first fifteen minutes, as both defences held firm. I was distracted by the gentleman climbing the ladder on to the roof of the stand at the main road end as Cinderford went close twice in quick succession. It looks as if my search for quiet corners once again meant that today’s goal action was all at the other end. These first chances had come from a direct freekick and the resulting corner and the players’ reactions suggested that Cinderford had come very close to breaking the deadlock. They did get the opening goal in the 18th minute. Will Gibbons made space running the ball from centre to left and his low shot back across the keeper found the bottom corner. Nice finish. The lead was doubled before half-time. Mangotsfield had given the ball away in midfield and got caught on the break. It took a great save from Jakob Glover, tipping the ball over the bar at full stretch, to prevent the goal … but only for a moment. From the corner, Matt Macdonald got on the scoresheet to put the visitors firmly in control. At half-time I noted that throughout the first half Cinderford had defended well from a good number of freekicks and corners whilst themselves always looking a threat on the break. A classic away performance really. Half-time: Mangotsfield U 0 Cinderford T 2 Mangotsfield made a couple of changes and improved in the second half and they forced an early save from the Man in Black, Nick Jones. A goal then could have changed the course of events but as it happened, chances were few in number as the time ticked away. Jones was called upon to make another good save. It was not until the 78th minute that Matthew Binding (I think!) prodded the ball home from close range, again after a corner, to make the last few minutes more interesting. Home striker Olaoluwakitan Jaiyeoba had been a physical presence all afternoon, though Cinderford shackled him pretty well once his threat had become clear early on. He had a half-chance in the last minute to send us to a penalty shootout, but the shot went high and wide to the right. Cinderford’s day, and on balance over the whole game they deserved the win.
Match (and Ball Retrieval) Pix
Mangotsfield in sky blue and claret, Cinderford in green.
Ground Pix
Next to a road where passengers on the top deck of passing ‘buses get a quick peek at the game. A ground with a bit of character and slope, and a refreshment hut called the Mango Munch.
CV19
No problems. Signage in place, details handed over, reminders given over the PA. I was able to find my usual quiet corner and it all felt safe enough, certainly safer than going to work! I don’t wander around during the games now though, so all ground pix are from before kickoff and all match pix are from the same viewpoint.
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 217 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, Orange lost to Black, with no clean sheet for either. The black top was a direct clash with the referee kit. I remember that being one of the questions in my FA Class 3 referees’ examination back in 1978-9. Before anyone asks, I refereed some inter-college games at Cambridge University but couldn’t keep the commitment going once the teaching career had started, though I did referee plenty of inter-school games back in the day. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (35 from 72) 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! Half-term break coming up, but likewise the strong suggestion of a circuit-breaker lockdown coming up so any decisions will be made next Friday. Many of my priority grounds for this season are in the northern counties of England and I’m expecting travel restrictions to be applied fairly soon.

Cinderford, You Will Go to the Playoffs

This is an e-programme.  I’m not a diehard traditionalist over this, but I have no permanent official souvenir of my visit because this is not downloadable as one document as far as I can, and home printing is impractical and expensive.  I think that if we are to move towards e-programmes then they at least ought to be made available in the .pdf format rather than as a whole series of jpgs.

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 27 April 2018 at The Causeway
Result	Cinderford Town 0 Winchester City 0
Competition	Southern League Division One South (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 699 on the lifetime list and I am here non-randomly because of the importance of the fixture.
Context
It’s the last league game of the regular season. Cinderford sit in the final playoff position but only a point ahead.  Winchester will displace them with a win today, but only a win will do.
In one sentence
A forgettable first half was followed by forty-three largely forgettable minutes of a second half and two minutes plus stoppage time of chaotic tragedy or triumph, depending on your allegiance.
So what?
Cinderford are away at Cirencester Town in the divisional playoff semi-finals.
Match Report
The match was played in blustery conditions on a good surface.  Visiting fans had welcomed the team with a large number of identical face masks, but I’m not sure what that was about.  It was tense and quiet as the match kicked off.  Players were taking no chances and the ball was swirling in the air for much of the time.  Cinderford’s number 5 Andy Lewis was making headed clearances every 30 seconds or so at one point.  To be honest, it was technically disappointing as a match spectacle, but the gusty wind played a big part in making the players nervous and edgy.  Nothing much happened in the first half-hour except a defensive stalemate.  Winchester managed a header on target after 35 minutes, but it was easily saved.  Simba Mlambo then beat his opponent and sent in a good cross, eventually leading to a Winchester shot clipping the post, and maybe the flag was up anyway. We all hoped for better in the second half. To an extent it was indeed better to watch. Both teams upped the tempo, and there was more of a sense of urgency.  However, the real chances were again few and far between.  Cinderford sometimes committed five players into the box and left themselves vulnerable on the break, but still neither side created a golden chance.  With just under fifteen minutes to go, the wind almost created a comedy goal for Cinderford as a wayward cross was blown back into the danger area, but the danger was averted. Finally, the pattern was broken, along with Winchester hearts. With 88 minutes on the clock, Winchester finally had enough men forward in the right places at the right time and a thunderous shot hit the post and bounced clear across the face of the goal.  Their keeper Ryan Price then joined the attack for a series of chaotic corners as the game went into stoppage time.  Eventually the whistle blew to unleash Cinderford celebration, and several Winchester players fell to the ground in disbelief.  There was more drama in those last few minutes than in the rest of the game put together.  This is why I am all in favour of playoffs – without them this would have been just another complete-the-grid end of season fixture with no meaning.  Condolences to the visitors, and best of luck to the hosts, who will need to play better to win their semi-final.
Pix
Cinderford in black and white.  The ground has clearly needed some make-do-and-mend adjustments as the club has come up to Step 4.  It is quirky, somewhat crumbling, and lovable for it, but you can understand why there is a substantial display in the clubhouse of the plans for a new community facility.  I watched the game from an unusually low position, sheltering from the wind in a stand which meant that my feet were several feet below the pitch level.  Imagine the front row at The Dell, Southampton’s previous home.
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. A draw and a clean sheet each for Purple and Yellow, enough to take Purple up a couple of places in the table, now based on the last 200 matches seen. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 55% (30 from 55) 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 half-and-half tops or 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 that orange is the best colour for a goalkeeper because it changes the behaviour of other players around the box. P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 11.5 6.5 1.0 4.0 11.0 4.5 32.0 2.783 Grey 53.5 25.0 12.0 16.5 84.5 16.0 82.5 1.542 Blue 48.1 22.0 7.0 19.1 77.0 14.0 66.0 1.372 Green 110.0 55.0 12.0 43.0 191.0 25.0 111.0 1.009 Fire Cracker 3.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 6.0 1.0 2.0 0.667 Purple 22.0 8.0 5.0 9.0 45.0 6.0 14.0 0.636 Maroon 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 9.0 1.0 3.0 0.600 Orange 58.5 21.0 12.0 25.5 101.5 11.0 28.5 0.487 Radioactive Bile 24.0 9.0 1.0 14.0 51.0 4.0 -3.0 -0.125 Black 6.5 2.5 3.0 1.0 15.0 0.5 -2.0 -0.308 Yellow 38.0 9.0 9.0 20.0 85.0 7.0 -14.0 -0.368 Pink 18.0 5.0 5.0 8.0 37.0 1.0 -12.0 -0.667 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  A cricketing diversion at Trent Bridge tomorrow, and ground 700 all being well next week!