Holmer Green Party Thwarted by Tiger Poop

Unenforced Signs of Great Britain Number 357

 

Things to do at half-time: undertake Owl Census.  (0)

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Tuesday 9 April 2013 at Airedale Park
Result	Holmer Green 2 London Tigers 3
Competition	Spartan South Midlands Premier League (Step 5)
Hopping	Quick change of plan when it turned out that a cup semi-final (see my last post) was being held at a neutral venue that I have already visited.  This ground is #512 on the lifetime list.  One more ground (London Tigers!) for me to do in this division.
Pre-match preparation
Holmer Green are bottom of the league table and need a miracle to avoid relegation.  Their last game was a 4-6 defeat at Hadley (in front of a crowd of 11) after they had been 4-1 up!  Tigers sit a few places above and will probably be safe whatever happens.
This match in one sentence
Heartbreak after a spirited performance from Holmer Green had seen them draw level from two goals down, but a 96th minute winner took the points for Tigers.
So what?
Unofficially, I believe that this result mathematically confirms Holmer Green’s relegation.  They could still avoid last place by overtaking Hatfield, but they can’t overtake Hertford.  Tigers need one more point (or for Hatfield to drop points) to be mathematically safe.
The drama unfolds
Holmer Green attacked from the whistle and shot narrowly over within seconds to announce their intent.  They played positively and with heads up in an even contest.  They encouraged teammates, more so than Tigers who tended to berate each other as the game went on.  My scene-setter clip comes from around 15 minutes into the game.  Green are in green! The second clip has the game’s opening goal.  Holmer Green lost concentration after a lengthy stoppage for an injury, and Tigers took advantage with this strike.  The scorer is either Terence Cariba or Jabir Laraba … (see later.)  0-1 after 29 minutes The home side regrouped and to their credit this was not the signal for floodgates to open.  My final first-half clip shows their best chance of an equaliser before the break – Joe Gleeson’s shot is straight at the keeper.  0-1 at half-time Holmer Green kept pressing in the second half.  They had plenty of possession but not all of it in dangerous areas, and Tigers looked fairly comfortable at the back.  When the home side found a way through, they found a keeper, Adam Atour, in good form, as the next two clips show.  Flying saves for goalkeeper fans out there.  These are at 60 and 70 minutes respectively. They had an even better chance when an excellent diagonal through ball from Joe da Silva in midfield was then played through to Dean Allen, but Atour saved with his legs at close range.  The tally of missed chances was now starting to mount up. Therefore it came to pass that a dipping and swerving shot from distance seemed to deceive the home goalkeeper and the ball pinged off the left-hand post to nestle in the opposite corner and Tigers were two up with only 14 minutes left.  The scorer was Terence Cariba – he scored twice but I am not sure whether this was the first or second.  0-2 after 76 minutes The shout on the pitch was, “We can still do this!” and Holmer Green got back into the game immediately with an excellent low finish from Allen who has now scored for five games on the trot.  1-2 after 77 minutes They almost had a leveller soon afterwards as Tigers began to look jittery at the back.  This clip comes from the 84-minute mark and has some corner carnage. There was another lengthy stoppage for an injury and it was the 90th minute on my watch when this freekick led to the equalising goal.  The scorer is Michael Green, who is pleasingly wearing Green and playing for Green.  (By the way, the referee was Mr Corner, who should be a lino really so his nominative determinism can be fine-tuned.)  2-2 after 90 minutes Unbelievably, however, they gave away the points and their last hold on a place in the division by conceding a goal in the 6th minute of stoppage time.  Tigers had players lined up on the edge of the area and there was not much that Dan Little could do as the winner was smacked in.  The scorer was either Terence Cariba or Jabir Laraba (whichever one didn’t score the first!).  Credit to both teams – a great game for the passing neutral and I hope Holmer Green keep their heads up for next season in Step 6.  Final score 2-3 Apologies for the confusion over identifying the Tigers' goalscorers this time.
The programme
Hopping for Moorfields Update
Tallies up to 185 goals from 53 games which remains around 3.5 per game.
Mars Bar Watch 2013
A standard 58g bar cost a season-standard 60p in the clubhouse.  Standard.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for further hopping announcements.

St Margaretsbury Good News Today

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 7 January 2012 at The Recreation Ground
Results	St Margaretsbury 2 Holmer Green 0 (and MK Lightning 7 Telford Tigers 2)
Competition	South Midlands League Premier Division (Step 5)
Hopping	A local one for me today, #446 on the lifetime list, followed by some Premier League ice hockey action.
This match in one sentence
A goal in each half from St Margaretsbury and Holmer Green failing to test a substitute keeper until it was too late.
So what?
St Margaretsbury are solidly mid-table but Holmer Green are facing a relegation battle.  Only Hanwell Town are below them, by three points but with a game in hand.
Something random
Composition of Scooby-Doo tree and not-quite-full moon not quite at the intersection-of-thirds No 26
The drama unfolds
The first incident of note came after 7 minutes.  The two photos show a routine-looking goalmouth incident and its outcome.  St Margaretsbury are in the red-and-black.  Actually, the unlucky keeper, Bert Greenwood could have had a full burial and memorial service before anyone noticed his plight, so I hope he got some better attention later on.  Number 10 and captain Anthony Anstead took the Number 1 jersey and in goal-chasing mode I decided to hang around at that end, anticipating a Holmer Green barrage. Here are some clips to set the scene. Actually, the home side began to look the more likely to score.  Adam Lawton shot over after a nice move with triangles in it, and David Edmee in his pink boots was looking direct and tricky.  Meanwhile, the new number one was coping well enough as this clip shows. St Margaretsbury tool the lead after 31 minutes with an explosive contender for goal-of-the-season from Leigh Rose and his distinctive hairstyle.  A long ball was flicked on, it fell and sat up nicely and he half-volleyed it from about 25 metres into the top right corner.  A wonderful goal.  1-0 With the sun appearing low in the sky and making photography tricky, I completed my circuit just before half-time and took a clip from behind the other goal.  There was no further score before the interval.  1-0 at half-time The second half was preceded by a wonderful announcement to St Margaretsbury’s Adam Lawton… “Adam, your mum’s here now, pull your finger out!”  I wonder if this would have worked on Peter Odemwingie earlier in the season, but never mind. The ref forgot momentarily that the teams change ends at half-time and there was a comedy moment when a Holmer Green player shouted, “What ARE you doing?” to get the reply, “Giving you a freekick!”.  You just don’t get these things in the Premier League. Holmer Green started the half strongly and for a time an equaliser looked to be only a matter of time.  However, they soon conceded a freekick by fouling #9 just outside the box and Ed Taylor’s direct left-foot shot curled round the wall into the corner of the net.  The keeper Nick Hancox didn’t even have chance to dive, and it looked a soft goal.  2-0 After that, the game became even and end-to-end.  St Margaretsbury rattled the bar.  Holmer Green had a goal disallowed when they thought that the sub keeper had dropped the ball rather than being fouled.  Edmee continued to cause problems, and Joe de Silva had a very good second half in midfield for the visitors.  Holmer Green hadn’t done a lot wrong, but they hadn’t done enough in the final third.  My last clip is taken from the main stand side in the closing minutes and catches the away supporters' bemusement at the disallowed goal.  Final score 2-0 There was time for a quick jaunt up the M1 to watch MK Lightning demolish Telford Tigers 7-2 in the English Premier League of ice hockey.  The visitors took a two-goal lead in the first period and a major shock was developing until the home side woke up.  They drew level in the second period, and this clip shows the turning point – a power-play goal to give them the lead for the first time in the match.  They never looked back and added four more in a one-sided third period.
Man-of-the-Match
Honourable mentions to Edmee and de Silva, and of course Anstead for a clean sheet from his unexpected stint between the sticks, but I give the nod to St Margaretsbury’s #9 Leigh Rose for the finish and the indirect assist which decided where the points went today.
A snippet from the programme
Mostly adverts of course, but very nicely produced to a high standard.  I liked the announcement of cheaper bar prices for members by a new bar committee.  A learning point for all clubs in the eastern counties, perhaps? “One of their first actions taken was to aggressively re-negotiate with the Green King Brewery to get a better deal on the cost of the bar products.”
What I learned today
The club was founded in 1894 as Stanstead Abbotts FC.  The change of name to St Margaretsbury was a condition of the move to their current location in 1962.  The ground is in a very pleasant setting alongside a waterway (not sure what exactly but it connects to the Lee Valley waterways to the south), but alas, no ballboy-in-a-boat as far as I could see.  The large building visible in the background of the early clips is part of Amwell View, a specialist special school (yes, special schools can have specialist status too) for children with severe learning difficulties.
What Next?
No idea – follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for announcements!  MK Lightning have a big game against league leaders Guildford Flames next weekend.

A 2-2 for number 333

Hopperational details

Tuesday 5 October 2010 at the Middlesex Stadium, Hillingdon Borough 2 Holmer Green 2 in the Step 5 Spartan South Midlands Premier League

This match in one sentence

Holmer Green settled and played the better football after going 2-0 down early on, the first being a disputed penalty which set the tone for a constant stream of dissent from both sides.

So what?

Hillingdon Borough are 4th (they were relegated from step 4 the season before last) and Holmer Green (promoted after a season of demotion to step 6 for ground grading reasons) are 15th.  The Middlesex Stadium is duly entered at position 333 on my lifetime ‘hopperlist.

Who caught the eye on the pitch?

“I am not a number!” said The Prisoner (Patrick McGoohan) in the incomprehensible but strangely compelling TV series.  However, in the absence of announcements or any obvious team display all I can tell you is that Hillingdon’s #4 and #11 wore fluorescent yellow “Fancy Dan” boots.  If the point of wearing them is to get noticed, then they worked.  #4 put in a good display in central defence, and #11 was pacy up front and tripped for the penalty. However, the man in black was the centre of attention for much of this game.  Both sides kept up the pressure on him and the assistants after that early penalty.  He showed several cards for dissent, including one to a sub or official on the bench.  The challenges to them were loud and sustained, and defenders patronisingly shouted, “Well done Lino!” when the offside flag was raised.

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

… the non-arrival of a cheque from Nigeria after you have been kind enough to help that nice email correspondent with the release of his family fortune from those nasty bankers who don’t believe him.

A snippet from the programme

Hillingdon Borough were runners-up in the FA Vase in 2005-6, and the programme records the essential details of defeat at Binfield, putting them out this season despite a comeback from 0-3 to 2-3 and a moment of handball controversy where “even the Binfield keeper agreed (a penalty) should have been awarded”.  The programme editor’s notes continue the evening’s theme of dissent.  “At no point in the second half could you have imagined that we were the team with only 10 men, and had it not felt as though we were playing against 12 …”  Meanwhile, the FA Respect campaign advertisement is in full colour on the inside back cover of the programme.

Modus Hopper Random Talking Point

Is there anyone out there who thinks the Respect campaign is making any difference?