Fenmen Down to Ten Men but Get the Point

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 22 December 2018 at Westfield Lane, South Emsall
Result	Frickley Athletic 1 Wisbech Town 1
Competition	Northern Premier League Division One East (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 668 on the lifetime list.  I am here randomishly in accordance with the democratic will of Twitter followers (Turnout: 38) of whom 38% voted for this fixture ahead of the games at Pickering Town (29%), Carlton Town (21%) and Ossett United (11%) in a twelve-hour poll on Friday.  Groundhopping means groundhopping.
Context
12th v 18th.  Frickley under relatively recent new management and with a few new signings, have won their last two games.  Wisbech have DDWL from their last four games.
In one sentence
An average game which proved to be a challenge for the officials as the trips, niggles and arguments mounted up.
So what?
12th and 17th respectively.
Match Report
After Wisbech had comically messed up the kickoff, Frickley almost took the lead in the first minute.  After that, defences remained mostly on top but this was not a surface on which players could take chances.  It led to formulaic tactics, by and large, with challenges for “second balls” being key to progress, from the initial long-ball approaches down the standard channels.  As the home side, Frickley were the more enterprising until they were caught by the opening goal after 18 minutes.  Home keeper Hugo Warhurst had saved well from a flick by Toby Hillard, but centre-back Sam Gaughran rose unchallenged to score with a classic header from the resulting corner.  Wisbech almost added a second through a cheeky chip by Eoin McQuaid, but the ball fell just wide. It took a good defensive block on the half-hour to deny Frickley after a good link-up between Ant Wilson and Jacob Hazell, but their corner came to nothing.  By now the flow of the game was interrupted all too often by the whistle as we saw a string of late challenges, trips and pushes.  Both players and spectators, not to mention the technical area staff, let the officials know of their irritation.  “Contact sport, do tha’ know?”, is the phrase to use around here alongside tasteless quips involving Stevie Wonder. Frickley’s equaliser came within five minutes of the second half, a close range score for Hazell after a slick passing move through the centre.  By now, every decision in favour of Wisbech was being questioned from the stand, and it was all rather unseemly.  As a neutral, it looked to me like Frickley were going to go on and win the game.  They worked the ball to the byeline on several occasions but could not find that proverbial final pass. As a spectacular full moon rose above the horizon, Frickley’s Gregg Young needed to make a good block to deny Hillard as Wisbech still occasionally threatened.  Eventually the irritation and dissent led to a warning for someone in the home dugout.  A Frickley freekick led to an excellent block save by Dan Swan and a scrambled clearance.  With just a few minutes to go another incident led to a huge cluster of players round the increasingly beleaguered official.  Eventually, six additional minutes were signalled, which allowed time for Wisbech fullback Aaron Hart to pick up a second yellow card for timewasting, and a minor scuffle between the respective dugouts. At the final whistle, the two coaching teams embraced and shook hands, presumably concentrating their ire on today’s common foe, the poor guy with the whistle.  Why anyone still volunteers to referee football in this country any more is beyond me.  The Yappmobile was right next to the stand and I just made it in time for the start of Sports Report on 5 Live.
Pix
Frickley in blue.  The ground is a quirky mix of constructions, some of them repaired, it would appear, several times.  New-build dressing rooms in one corner must be just the first step in upgrading and renovation.  I’d suggest that groundhoppers get here while it is still so different from the norm.  Watch the craters on the approach to the car park if you are driving a Ferrari.
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. Today, Grey is held to a draw by Purple.  No change in league table positions, now based on the last 169 games seen. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 15 from 24 (63%) 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 Blue 42.1 19.0 7.0 16.1 60.0 14.0 74.0 1.758 Grey 49.5 23.0 11.0 15.5 80.5 14.0 69.5 1.404 Green 87.0 44.0 11.0 32.0 147.0 22.0 106.0 1.218 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 20.0 8.0 4.0 8.0 42.0 5.0 11.0 0.550 Orange 42.5 13.0 8.0 21.5 80.5 6.0 -3.5 -0.082 Radioactive Bile 21.0 9.0 0.0 12.0 45.0 3.0 -3.0 -0.143 Yellow 33.0 9.0 7.0 17.0 70.0 5.0 -11.0 -0.333 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!  Hopefully a Boxing Day trip, health and weather permitting, including another of the 35 Step 4 grounds on my priority list.

Kendal Mint Performance

 

A load of rubbish in the home colours

Hopperational details

Saturday 16 October 2010, Kendal Town 3 Frickley Athletic 0 in the FA Trophy 1st Qualifying Round at the Lakeside Radio Stadium, Parkside Road.  I am here because last night Llanelli threw away a two-goal lead against Aberystwyth and their 'keeper Ashley Morris was red-carded.  If that seems random, that's because it is.  See previous post for details.

This match in one sentence

Kendal needed a penalty to take the lead but thereafter played dominant attacking football, even after their second goal, and went on to a handsome win.

So what?

Former WBA winger Lee Ashcroft, now Kendal’s manager, will be a happy man as Kendal go into the hat for the next round.

Who caught the eye on the pitch?

Three Kendal players had many good moments.  Full-back Kieran Walmsley scored the penalty and found plenty of space on the right for several decent crosses.  Ashley Dunn’s second goal was a fabulous strike.  However, the pick of the players for me was Danny Rowe.  He took the third goal well but before that always seemed to have more time and space on the ball, frequently putting his foot on it to orchestrate many flowing moves from the home side. The opening goal and nerves are settled all round

This match had the same effect on my pulse rate as …

… chugging half a kilogram of Kendal mint cake with a double espresso.

A snippet from the programme

From programme editor Steve Presnall describing the atmosphere on the terraces at Kendal’s last home game: “One thing did puzzle me and that was why did the linesman (sorry assistant referee) insist that each Northwich Victoria substitute should lift his shorts up before allowing him to enter the pitch.  I know there were various suggestions at the time from those around me but I’d best not print them without my solicitor being present.  All I can think of is that cycle shorts underneath have now been outlawed.”

What I learned today

It is 238 miles to Kendal from where I live but I have forgiven Llanelli AFC for their slip-up after a lovely day oop north, especially as my mum was texting me the news of West Brom's comeback at Old Trafford to keep my spirits up. The exact recipe of Kendal Mint Cake is a secret but it apparently involves boiling mixtures of sucrose, glucose, water and peppermint oil in open copper pans.  Snuff and shoes (hence the K of K Shoes) are also part of this tourist town's manufacturing heritage.  I also learned that if you are feeling too cheerful then a visit to an exhibition of LS Lowry paintings is a good way of restoring essential pre-match gloom and pessimism.

Modus Hopper Random Talking Point

The manager lays down the LA Law It is good to see Lee Ashcroft having success as a manager.  He had hot-and-cold moments during his WBA career, but will always be remembered for a crucial goal that kept The Baggies up in 1993-4, their first season back in Division One after a few horrible years in the third tier.  Ashcroft eventually followed former West Brom manager Alan Buckey for the latter’s second spell at Grimsby Town.  Buckley was frequently in the habit of re-signing players who had worked with him before – West Brom had Paul Groves, Shaun Cunnington and Tony Rees among others and David Smith, Kevin Donovan and Stacy Caldicott were among those who went to Grimsby.  Ashcroft’s spell at Grimsby was not a great success.  He had a serious injury and then fell out with his manager.  By all accounts, he now has a young squad which is attracting the attention of scouts from higher levels of the pyramid and looks set to have a long career in management.