Coalville's Win at Brigg is Fair Enough

Excellent non-league stadium design - a flat surface for pie parking while tweeting goalflashes 

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 24 November 2012 at The Hawthorns
Result	Brigg Town 0 Coalville Town 3
Competition	Northern Premier League Division One South (step 4)
Hopping	Ground 495 on the lifetime list, and I am here in a weekend of awful southern weather because @BriggFC tweeted so reassuringly on Friday night that the game would definitely be on.  Exemplary use of Twitter by the club if I may say so.
Pre-match preparation
Coalville are league leaders by 7 points with both the best attack (by far) and the best defence in the table.  Brigg have picked up most of their points away from home and are a bit too low down the table for comfort.
This match in one sentence
Brigg made a bad start and made it worse by gifting a second goal, and in the end it was a comfortable win for Coalville.
So what?
Coalville extend their divisional lead, and Brigg drop to 18th albeit with a game or two in hand over the teams immediately above.
The drama unfolds
After a pre-match chat with @knockernorton1, Coalville gave us an early notice of their intentions.  After 11 minutes, a direct free-kick from full-back and captain Cameron Stuart clipped the bar with home supporters complaining that large visiting forwards standing in an offside position must have been interfering with play.  One of them, Ryan Robbins, then burst through again and rolled a shot just wide.  He and Jerome Murdock terrorised the home defence all afternoon. It was only another few minutes before Coalville had the lead.  Robbins reached the left byeline and sent in a low cross, curling away from the keeper.  Miles Fenty got his fingertips to it but only managed to push it into the path of Stuart, again in a very attacking central position, and he finished gleefully.  0-1 The second came in the 20th minute and was a defensive calamity.  A mix-up at the back presented Lewis Dodd with the ball on the left touchline but with an open goal in front of him.  He kept his cool and rolled it in for a soft but killer goal.  0-2 Coalville had the ball in the net twice more before the interval, but the goals were correctly disallowed on both occasions.  They had looked dangerous every time they came forward.  Here is a scene-setter clip – remember Brigg are known as the Zebras. @BriggFC had tweeted yesterday that the rain was expected after 4pm and the first spots arrived during the break, so we moved to the comfort of the excellent stand on the far side opposite the clubhouse.  If Brigg were to make a game of it, they needed to get an early foothold and indeed they did show some ambition.  My second clip is from early in the second half.  By 4.06pm it was raining harder. However, the game was killed off as a contest by Coalville’s third goal on 63 minutes.  A left wing corner made it to the far post, the defensive header was missed, and this time the right-back, Danny Jenno, was in the right spot to head over the line.  0-3 The game then rather petered out, to be honest.  Both sides made substitutions which broke up the flow.  Robbins and Murdock seemed to get into some sort of argument with the Brigg bench as they walked back to the changing room, but there is not much else to report.  It was a convincing performance from the league leaders.  Final score 0-3
The programme
Something random
This is the first time I have ever seen Brigg Town.  I have sat alongside the Coalville Town supporters once before, in their narrow defeat in the FA Vase final of 2010-11 at Wembley.  That game can be picked up from the tag cloud on the right of the page. This visit also completes a bit of West Brom-related life trivia.  Next time anyone asks me about whether I have been to The Hawthorns, I can say, “Yes, both of them.”
Hopping for Moorfields Update
Three goals and thus another three-goal game!
What Next?
If the roads are clear, Elite League ice hockey at Nottingham Panthers as I head back south.  (I can reveal that I made it with 5 minutes to spare – the next post will report on the game.)

Lucan Found at Olympic Venue

Hopperational details

Saturday 11 December 2010 at Dales Lane, Rushall Olympic 2 Carlton Town 1 in the Northern Premier League Division One South (step 4).  I am here for two reasons.  Firstly, I paid a visit to my brother Martyn aka @BlurredBirding in the morning.  He lives on the edge of Walsall and will be in a neck-brace for six weeks after a successful operation on his collection of discs.  The Bon Jovi ones have been left alone, and I left him searching from his window for waxwings in nearby trees.  That is dedication.  Secondly, the @RushallOlympic official twitter feed gave a clear and timely announcement that the game was on.

This match in one sentence

A very good win for the home side from a bruising but exciting encounter, coming back from one down on a tricky surface.

So what?

Carlton stay second and Rushall climb to 7th.  Rushall haven’t drawn many and are in good form at the moment.  In fact they have not lost in the league to anyone except leaders Barwell (twice) since mid-September.  Carlton will be hoping that this is a “blip” – this was only their second defeat in the league this season.

Who caught the eye on the pitch?

Curtis Shaw scores from the spot to give Carlton the lead Alex Melbourne equalises soon after with a screamer for Rushall The key moment was the equalising direct free-kick from Rushall’s Alex Melbourne in the 8th minute, his third goal in as many games.  It was indeed a beauty, right into the corner.  Carlton had taken the lead through Curtis Shaw from the penalty spot after only five minutes, and the game might well have taken a different course if they had held on to that lead for longer.  As it is, Rushall made better use of the width of the pitch and their attempts at a passing game worked better on the day.  There were several times that clever flicks and layoffs from the target men brought wingers and full-backs into play. At this point, I really thought someone was going to get hurt or we were going to have a game ruined by a red card.  Tackles were flying in, and the referee seemed to be making generous allowances for the surface.  However, later on he also let some obvious dissent go unpunished.  If you are on this ref’s Christmas card list, it won’t be yellow, that’s for sure. The winning goal was from #2 Lucan Spittle, who attacked a Melbourne free-kick at the near post and showed the unfettered joy of a man who doesn’t score many as he danced back upfield.  Was it an own goal? Did he mean it?  Well, as someone who played #2 occasionally and never got anywhere near the six-yard box, I’ll keep quiet.  The official club tweeter (nice to meet you, Steve) was close enough and assured me it’s Lucan’s. Carlton keeper Neil West keeps it at 2-1 just before half-time The conventional stats would probably make Alex Melbourne the man-of-the-match for the goal & assist combo, but I’ll also pick out the pair up front.  Chris Morris and Danny Lennon worked tirelessly and mostly unselfishly up front and gave the Carlton defence a tough time with movement and pace, and some nice triangles.

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

… an exhibition of Suzi Quatro’s trousers in the Walsall Leather Museum (and if they don’t have one then they should in my opinion).

A snippet from the programme

This is not so much a programme as an encyclopedia of Midlands non-league football.  Two transfer snippets are of local interest. The club have moved to sign talented young midfielder Richard Blythe … from Barwell.  The 19yo … was an integral part of Aston Villa’s academy and reserve sides, and played in the 2010 FA Youth Cup Final.  Pics Manager Neil Kitching says, “Richard fits the mould perfectly in terms of the stature of player we are looking to attract – he is young, talented and ambitious.”  This follows the news of Stuart McNaught’s surprising departure to neighbours and league rivals Sutton Coldfield Town.  “Neil Kitching said he was “amazed” by McNaught’s decision to leave.”

What I learned today

I see that Rushall have a John Littler on their playing staff.  If John is a local lad (and the programme suggests that he is), please could someone ask him whether he has ancestors called Joseph, Ann or Maria or any connections to the Gentleshaw area.  If so, then we might be distantly related!

Modus Hopper Random Talking Point

Olympic were one of five clubs who entered a league competition, to try to secure a much-needed ground improvement grant.  Their video, capturing the essence of non-league football, is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht0ILY_H_mQ The voting process, though not on a FIFA level of alleged corruption, did not favour Rushall and they didn’t win, but the video deserves another outing if only for the “pothole” moment.  Timing is everything in comedy.

What Next?

Hard to plan in advance at this time of year but I hope to hop somewhere on Tuesday evening, and I might be able to restore the randomness that has been missing for a week or two. UPDATE - the provisional plan is Gornal Athletic v Runcorn in the FA Vase for Tuesday evening.  This is because Graham Taylor said "No doubt about it!" twice during the second half of 5 Live's Spurs v Chelsea commentary.