Cadbury Win is a Boost but no Picnic as Desborough Flake Out of the Vase

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 1 December 2018 at the Triplex Sports Association Ground, Birmingham
Result	Cadbury Athletic 3 Desborough Town 2
Competition	FA Vase Round 3
Hopstats	Ground 667 on the lifetime list, and I’m here as family commitments require me to be somewhere near Birmingham and West Bromwich.  Delighted to find a Vase game to fit the bill.
Context
Fourth home draw in a row for Cadbury Athletic, and yes, this team has its origins in the local chocolate industry.  They have beaten Wem Town, Henley Town and Heather St John’s to get to this point.  They play league football at Step 6 in the Midland Football League Division One.  Desborough Town, of Step 5 United Counties Premier League, joined the competition with an away win at Worcester City in the second round.  In this world of clichés, league form counts for nothing.
In one sentence
Cadbury Athletic experienced a nervy start, then created a comfortable winning position before giving the visitors a cruel ten minutes of hope at the end.
So what?
Cadbury Athletic are in the draw for Round 4, and Desborough Town aren’t.  They will concentrate, as they say, on the league.  The BBC and Sky pay fortunes for that kind of insight.
Match Report
In the opening minutes, Desborough Town were quicker, sharper and more threatening and it looked like only a matter of time before they asserted their superiority.  They were stopped in their tracks by a fluke goal for the home side.  Cadbury’s number 9, Odane Barnes, who could definitely be described as a “big unit”, held the ball up and played it out to the right flank.  The cross came in, too close to the keeper, but perhaps with a ping of the woodwork also involved, ended up bizarrely in the net.  From the other end of the ground we assumed it had to go down as an own goal.  The Desborough keeper was going to have an eventful afternoon. Desborough resumed their attacking play.  Their Number 11 hit the angle of post and bar, and they forced several corners.  A Cadbury’s centre-back produced a great tackle in the area to stop a Desborough fullback’s surging run from half-way.  Gradually however, Cadbury got more into the game and the teams traded decent chances as the halftime whistle approached.  Desborough had wasted a lot of very decent approach play. Barnes had earned a booking and did not reappear for the second half.  The substitute Stuart Butcher turned in a low right wing cross to double the home lead after 53 minutes and now the cupset looked possible.  The same player had a clever back-header cleared off the line as Desborough wobbled. With about 15 minutes to go, Cadbury added a third, indirectly from the penalty spot.  The original kick was saved but the rebound was bundled over the line by Brett Fellows.  Even more surprising were the events starting three minutes later.  The visiting keeper wrapped his arms around an attacker in a bearhug and the ref had no choice but to give another penalty.  This one was also saved, along with the rebound, with the help of the crossbar.  Desborough were not dead yet, and on 82 minutes were given hope by a straight red card for another Cadbury substitute after a mistimed tackle.  At least one other Cadbury player was by now struggling with cramp. Desborough’s first goal followed almost immediately, a powerful shot from about 20 yards, but the second was not until the second minute of stoppage time.  Then there was an agonising wait of about twenty seconds after the restart, before the final whistle confirmed a notable home victory.  Great stuff for the passing neutrals, this time including my dad who had joined me for the afternoon.  Thanks to the Cadbury Athletic website for help in confirming scorers.
Pix
The Triplex name refers to a brand from the glassmaking business that had this as their sports ground.  Cadbury Athletic in purple-and-white.
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.  So far, 168 games included. Today, Green beats Blue but there are no changes in the league table positions. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 65% (15 from 23) 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 48.5 23.0 10.0 15.5 79.5 14.0 69.5 1.433 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 19.0 8.0 3.0 8.0 41.0 5.0 11.0 0.579 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!  36 Step 4 grounds are my priority but I may be constrained to be in the Midlands again next week.  Plus, weather interventions start to be a planning issue at this time of the year.  Stand by for last-minute decisions, some of them random or randomish.

Plan B from Walsall Wood

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 17 February at the ML Safety Stadium, Oak Park
Result	Walsall Wood 6 Chelmsley Town 0
Competition	Midland Football League Division One
Hopstats	635 on the Lifetime List.  Plan A, having been in West Bromwich at the ancestral home all morning, was to be at Shepshed Dynamo on the way back south.  Postponement caused a change in plan, and Walsall Wood were first to show on my Twitter search as an option.  It was either this or WBA v Southampton in the FA Cup and no way am I going to re-start watching Albion at the moment.  I want the Cab Four to be transfer-listed.
Context
Very little time for research except that Wood are flying as league leaders with an average of four goals per game.  Chelmsley Town are mid table but the form book would predict a home win.
In one sentence
Once the initial resistance had been broken, the Chelmsley management team fell mercifully silent and Walsall Wood completed a routine win.
So what?
Walsall Wood have a two-point advantage over Atherstone Town but also with three games in hand.  Chelmsley Town are 15th.
Match Report
I watched the game from the back of the main stand, and very comfortable it is too for this level.  Pleased to see a couple of the more unusual keeper top colours (see below), but surprised that the ref allowed Wood’s because of the similarity to the home shirt in the bright sunshine. The game settled quickly into a pattern suggested by the league table, with Wood well on top, and lacking only a final ball.  With multiple and possibly contradictory instructions being screamed from sources in the away dugout, Town kept the match scoreless for the first quarter.  A header pinged the post early on, then Wood’s Ben Lund managed to round the visiting keeper James Kelly before having a shot blocked, and there could be no doubting the away team’s efforts and defensive commitment at this point.  Their occasional breaks were quickly snuffed out. The inevitable opening goal came just after the half-hour mark.  A penalty appeal was rendered redundant as Lei Brown scored from the loose ball.  Five minutes later the same player got his second with the help of a big deflection from his direct fee-kick.  Town managed to repel all invaders for the rest of the first half to, just about, stay in the game. The second half quickly fell into the same pattern.  Up for a corner, centre-back Chris Slater fired powerfully into the top corner after a knockdown.  Town keeper Kelly had to leave the field with injury but thankfully passed his top to the sub to avoid messing up my spreadsheet.  The sub keeper soon had to face a penalty, and to be fair Town were lucky not to be down a man too because of the defender denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.  Unfortunately I can’t give the sub keeper a namecheck.  He had the momentary moral victory of a penalty save before Paul Sullivan hammered in his own rebound.   The sub’s eventful afternoon continued as he brought down an attacker, and this time Brown completed his hat-trick from the spot.   He did make a brilliant one-handed reflex save, the save of the day by far, before a deflected strike by Tony Clarke made it six in the last minute. As a passing neutral, I don’t really enjoy these one-sided games, but social media exchanges suggest that Walsall Wood entertained their visitors to a high standard and have earned the respect of other teams this season as they charge towards a divisional title with another thumping win.  Let's not forget the charitable act too.  Step 5 beckons.
Ground Pix
Other Match Pix
Walsall Wood in Red.
Today’s Good Cause
The ceremonial programme is dedicated to the memory of Mylee Billingham.  There was a charity match this morning, and all today’s gate receipts are going to her family.  Mylee was killed in January and newspapers have reported that her father has now been charged with murder.  It is an incident that has massively affected the local community.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
An appearance today for two of the rarer colours.  I am surprised that the home keeper was able to wear Fire Cracker, given the similarity to the home shirts, but the result does the colour a lot of good in the league table.  A bad day for Purple. Results so far (135 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, and it is not the same as Orange, trust me.  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 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.500 Blue 31.1 13.0 6.0 12.1 49.0 10.0 46.0 1.479 Green 73.0 36.0 10.0 27.0 122.0 19.0 91.0 1.247 Grey 43.5 20.0 9.0 14.5 72.5 11.0 51.5 1.184 Orange 29.5 9.0 6.0 14.5 49.5 5.0 8.5 0.288 Radioactive Bile 13.0 6.0 0.0 7.0 26.0 2.0 2.0 0.154 Yellow 30.0 8.0 7.0 15.0 64.0 5.0 -8.0 -0.267 Purple 12.0 5.0 2.0 5.0 31.0 2.0 -4.0 -0.333 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!  I still have three Step 3 grounds (with longish drives) to do, and these will take priority if weather and fitness allows next Saturday.