Maybe I'm The Odd One at Cray Wanderers

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 15 February 2025 at Flamingo Park
Result	Cray Wanderers 2 Cheshunt 1
Competition	Isthmian League Premier Division (Step 3)
Hopstats	My first new ground since September 2024, and #793 on the lifetime list. Since the last blogpost, my only game has been a Stamford Bridge re-visit for a key WSL game (Chelsea 1 Arsenal 0) that had plenty of coverage elsewhere.
Context
It’s the first day of February half-term for me. My disappearance since September has essentially been work-related. I’ve repeatedly deferred retirement and in this phase of my career I’ve been a part-time science teacher in Hertfordshire for several years now. Such is the difficulty in finding good candidates in my subject areas (chemistry and physics), especially in comprehensive schools, that I’ve been persuaded (easily enough to be fair) to contribute at three different schools this year. So I have nine different exam classes – and hence the reason that 2024-5 weekends have been more about lesson planning and recovery than travelling to football matches. I’ve been close to completing “everywhere down to Step 3 in England” for a couple of seasons – with promotions and new builds moving the target – and today gave me the chance to tick of one of the three that I most needed. After this, I will need to get to Truro City’s new ground (Step 2) and Plymouth Parkway (Step 3) but whether I will manage that before Everton’s new ground opens is very much in doubt! My research for this match was restricted to a check that it is essentially a mid-table game with the hosts a few places higher, and both have similar recent records with a win last weekend and a draw before that.
Match Report
The early stages of the game saw very few chances created, though Cray established territorial superiority – something they would never relinquish. Cheshunt’s goal after 16 minutes came from a goalkeeper error. Shaun Rowley clearly called for the ball as he came several metres out of his area, but the fluffed clearance fell nicely for an easy roll-in for Kenny Coker. The lead lasted six minutes and the equaliser was deserved. Nyren Clunis was on hand to score from a flick-on from the right, tucking the ball into the opposite corner. The first half ended at 1-1 but not before Cheshunt spurned a great chance on the break in the closing seconds. Tobias Braney could not quite get enough power on a close-range downward header after the home defence had been sliced open down their left. The second half started with higher levels of entertainment as there were half-chances at both ends. Rowley redeemed himself with two good saves. Cray had a goal disallowed for offside and then smacked the crossbar with a textbook header. Cray were very much on top as the time ticked on but it took till the 68th minute for the winner. It was scored on the break after a Cheshunt attack, made for Soul Kader by a timely pass by Josh Williams. Williams had been a constant threat to the visitors’ defence with his direct running. Cheshunt heads never dropped but in the end Cray held on comfortably enough. Cray might feel they should have won by a bigger margin, but equally Cheshunt could be wondering whether a 2-1 lead at half-time would have changed things. I was left wondering when the feeling would return to my fingers and toes – even with five layers, it was cold.
So What?
The teams end the day in 9th and 15th places respectively, and I now think of myself as being “The One” in the official attendance of 401.
Pix
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today, Orange beats Purple as predicted. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 49% (85 from 172)
What Next?
No idea! Watch this space.

 

Bracken Blue and Blue in Purple

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 24 March 2018 at King George’s Arena
Result	Corinthian Casuals 0 Cray Wanderers 1
Competition	Isthmian League Division One South (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 638 on the lifetime list and here because I needed a reasonably short journey today!
Context
Both teams are in the hunt for promotion.  A run of eight wins in a row has seen Casuals go into the second automatic spot, and Cray are not far behind. Both teams can be quietly confident of at least a play-off tilt at the end of the season.
In one sentence
An effective Cray performance, strangling Casuals’ attacking efforts, even when the home side were visibly stung into action by a second half red card after some ugly pushing and shoving.
So what?
The unbeaten run comes to an end but Casuals stay second for the moment. Carshalton drew level on points but might regard their home draw with Guernsey as two points dropped.  The two other contenders immediately below Cray both won.  Lewes are closing in on the divisional title but the second automatic promotion spot is definitely up for grabs.
Match Report
The only goal of the game came after eight minutes.  Cray had already settled, trying to play composed football building from the back.  Persistence near the left byline led to a hanging cross that was decisively volleyed in by Junior Dadson. It took a good save with his feet by home keeper Danny Bracken (in blue) to keep Casuals in the game at the midpoint of the first half.  A stooping header from a free kick was on target.  It was only at the half-hour point that the visiting keeper Nick Blue (in Purple) had to get his top dirty, diving to block a half-chance.  Cray had a penalty appeal turned down, and they looked dangerous on the break.  Casuals were more direct, but misfiring today and there was not much in the way of end product.  The home supporters sang a unique song about cheesy chips with four cheeses, which sadly had run out at half time before I got to the front of the queue. I felt that Casuals would improve after a half-time rant or chat from the management, but Cray had a good headed chance early in the second half. Again, Bracken was in the right place. He was much the busier of the two keepers.  We then had the altercation, a big one.  I was watching the play, so I didn’t see what started it.  The ref was in the other half of the field as the bundling commenced in the Cray penalty area.  He reached the group just before one of the players barged into him, but accidentally I think.  There was a Cray defender on the ground.  A home player did a mock dive to the ground to make his feelings clear, but it took quite some time to separate the players.  Bracken came up from his own goalmouth to add his presence.  After consulting his assistant, a straight red card was shown to Casuals’ Gabriel Odunaike, who promptly “lost it”.  Hands were raised and shirts were grabbed again, management and subs came on.  For a moment I genuinely thought that the ref would have to abandon the game. It was several minutes before Odunaike was escorted to the changing rooms under the calming influence of one of his own subs.  Three other yellow cards (two home and one away) followed.  At the end of the game there would be five extra minutes, and that was conservative. The home side were visibly angered and started to impose themselves.  Cray weathered the storm and saw the game out in a rather soured atmosphere.  The purple shirt on Blue did not get noticeably dirtier.  Cray will regard this as a job well done.  It wasn’t pretty, but it was pretty effective. Literally as I write this, a tweet has appeared from James Bracken, the home manager, thanking supporters and talking about “better ways to win”.  Club photographer Stuart Tree also has a photograph on his Flickr page that shows the moment that the Cray player fell to the ground.  I suspect next week’s programme notes will be interesting. The programme (really very good by the way) also tells the story of a bunch of Preston North End fans who have “adopted” Casuals.  An international weekend gives them a great chance to visit – it all stems from a late postponement at Crawley in 2013 that left them looking for alternative footballing entertainment.
Ground Pix
You can tell as soon as you walk into a ground whether the club is loved and in good health, and this is evident here.  It’s clean and tidy, with good signposting and decent facilities. The club’s links with Brazil are well documented and they have one of the best collections of banners in non-league football.
Match Pix
Corinthian Casuals in the chocolate and pink.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Blue loses to Purple, and the clean sheet helps the latter to jump a couple of places. Results from the last 139 games: 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. 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 Fire Cracker 2.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 4.0 1.0 4.0 2.000 Blue 34.1 15.0 6.0 13.1 50.0 12.0 61.0 1.789 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.500 Grey 44.5 20.0 10.0 14.5 72.5 12.0 57.5 1.292 Green 74.0 36.0 10.0 28.0 123.0 19.0 90.0 1.216 Orange 30.5 9.0 7.0 14.5 49.5 6.0 14.5 0.475 Purple 13.0 6.0 2.0 5.0 31.0 3.0 4.0 0.308 Radioactive Bile 13.0 6.0 0.0 7.0 26.0 2.0 2.0 0.154 Yellow 31.0 8.0 7.0 16.0 65.0 5.0 -9.0 -0.290 Pink 15.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 30.0 1.0 -8.0 -0.533 Black 5.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 14.0 0.0 -8.0 -1.600 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!