Digging Deep to Secure the Win

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 13 November at the Regional Electrical Services Ltd Stadium, Beechnut Lane
Result	Pontefract Collieries 2 Hebburn Town 1
Competition	Northern Premier League (Division One) East (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 735 on my lifetime list was selected by a convoluted method which is explained in full detail on this Twitter thread. I decided that I could draw the attention of more people to the Register of Members’ Final Interests given some of the news coverage earlier in the week from Westminster. It’s something that everyone should look at for their own MP. I had six unvisited Step 4 grounds on my shortlist. In alphabetical order of team name, I added up the figures on the register for extra earnings and donations for each local MP. The MP for Chippenham (including Melksham Town), Rt Hon Michelle Donelan, gets a right honourable zero against her name. Likewise Robert Largan, MP for High Peak (covering Glossop North End) scored a technical zero as no actual value is assigned to his part-interest in a London property. Craig Whittaker MP for Calder Valley (Brighouse Town) opened with £3457 worth of Euro hospitality in his total of £4232, but was soon overtaken by Nigel Evans MP (Ribble Valley, Clitheroe) also with some football-related interest (courtesy of Qatari sources) in a total of £8912.67. The runner-up was Tim Loughton MP (his constituency includes Lancing) with £65450 made up mostly of two additional salaries for 22hrs/month but the winner was Yvette Cooper MP for this patch. £73388 of donations for office and campaigning from a company based in Hertfordshire plus a bit of rugby league hospitality and book earnings gave a total of £79131, comfortably enough to bring me here. It’s randomish in the sense I had no idea what the outcome would be when I started the thread. It’s not random in the mathematical sense as not all outcomes were equally likely. Here’s the link to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests so you can have a look at your own representative, or just dip in at random and be amazed at the extent and variation.
Context
Not much time for detailed research this week but did spot that both teams had a proper tonking (technical term) last time out. Pontefract went down 4-0 at Shildon while Stocksbridge won 5-1 at Hebburn. I saw Hebburn just a few weeks ago. The teams start the day in 18th and 13th places in the division, and both have announced a new signing this week.
In One Sentence
Hebburn were wasteful with several set pieces and Pontefract’s debutant striker scored both goals to ensure a home win.
So What?
The teams are now 17th and 14th respectively. We are about a third of the way through the season.
Pre-match Entertainment
A brief walk around the town centre, which has a lot of blue plaques on some interesting old buildings. It’s great to see a town centre with character which isn’t an identi-build collection of the same old retail names, but on the other hand there were definite signs of economic stress. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I witnessed an incident and had to spend some time giving a statement to the police, and therefore didn't have as much time as I would have liked. Maybe a re-visit in July for this ... ?
Match Report
For the first quarter of an hour the teams largely negated each other. Both defences were good in the air, and Hebburn’s two early set pieces came to nothing. Connor Bell came closest, just over-running a curling pass from the right so that it comically hit his back leg.  Then someone tried to catch Hebburn keeper Kieran Hunter off his line from distance, but the shot went wide. Hebburn’s next chance was even better. They worked the ball down the right again, drawing the keeper out and taking him out of the equation, but a defender had got back to be in just the right position to intercept and clear the final pass. Pontefract took the lead in the 34th minute with a debut goal from Rob Guilfoyle. For the rest of the first half I was somewhat distracted and disgusted by the loud political ranting and rambling of a nearby spectator on matters of Brexit, immigration and events at Yorkshire Cricket. After the earlier experience, this time I chose, rightly or wrongly, not to get involved. It’s midnight as I draft this and it’s still bothering me somewhat. The second half also started with a couple of fruitless set-pieces for Hebburn before Pontefract spurned a chance of their own, with a shot curled over the bar. Just after the hour they eventually doubled their lead. I’d moved to the other end, but it looked as if the ball broke kindly for Guilfoyle, or maybe it was a good through ball, but whichever it was he then had an uninterrupted run on goal for a neat, easy finish. Hebburn kept going and the home defence were kept busy. Finally they converted a free-kick for a consolation goal with a few minutes left. It was a really good shot by Michael Richardson into the top corner from a central position. For this passing neutral, this was a good contest between two physically strong sides, with the result in doubt for long periods. I’m not going to let one resident and one supporter spoil my day, or my impression of the club.
Match Pix
Pontefract in blue. Apologies for the poor quality this week. I was trying some manual settings on my camera as the natural light faded and I didn't get them right.
Ground Pix
Another ground close to a train line, though the trees mean that they are more audible than visible. Top old-school whiteboard work here (I'm jealous) See HERE for more fantastic examples of Non-League bins on this Facebook page (not mine, but I do occasionally contribute)
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
Usually accompanied by a pre-match prediction on Twitter just before kickoff. Working towards being able to compute a respectable statistical significance test by the end of the season. The full keeper top performance table from my last 236 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, Orange beats Green, but no clean sheet for either. Pontefract keeper Ryan Musselwhite has inherited the right genes, as many readers will recognise. Here is a picture of him pacing around in each half. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (45 from 91) 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. The odd decimal places were caused either by undeniable half-and-half tops or lower league sub keepers 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 (and supported by anonymous scientists of some description) that orange is the best colour for a goalkeeper because it changes the behaviour of other players around the box. It is supposedly because of an innate primeval human reaction to the colour and the colour “spreads” more in the vision of a striker at the key moment of decision. Genius or garbage? The evidence is gathering here, and is leaning towards the latter.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! Fourteen Step 4 grounds to go, almost all of them well over 200 miles per round trip. Whether it will be realistic to get to Guernsey as one of them remains to be seen. We are also entering the season of bad weather and pitch inspections, so it will be a month of late decisions and late substitutions.

The Owls and the Pontefract I Went to See

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 5 January 2019 at the Linden Club
Result	Cleethorpes Town 4 Pontefract Collieries 2
Competition	Northern Premier League Division One East (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 673 on the lifetime list.  I am here because the last digit of the time of the last goal in the Manchester City v Liverpool game was a 2.  The previous blogpost explains all, but essentially there were ten fixtures linked to the digits zero to nine.  Sergio Aguero (40’) initially pointed me towards Atherton Collieries before Roberto Firmino (64’) could have sent me to Morpeth.  However, Leroy Sané’s winner (72’) brings me here.  It’s randomish.
Context
12th plays 3rd.
In one sentence
A red card early in the second half eventually proved costly for Pontefract in a keenly-contested and occasionally fractious encounter.
So what?
Same league positions except that results elsewhere mean that Cleethorpes close the gap on Marske and Tadcaster have drawn level with Pontefract.
Match Report
Pontefract Collieries took the lead somewhat against the run of play after 17 minutes.  A great save by Theo Richardson was rendered academic as Eli Hey scored from the rebound.  Up to that point Cleethorpes (aka The Owls) had a slight advantage on balance of play, but caused only one significant save from Ryan Musselwhite in that time.  Both sides were strong, organised and well-drilled as I have come to expect from this division.  There was also plenty of shouty appealing from players and dugouts on both sides.  Everything was contested and the officials came in for stick as usual.  I don’t know how they tolerate it from players, I really don’t.  For me as a neutral, it was very hard to distinguish good from poor decisions as irritation with the officials mounted and a few yellows were shown for mistimed or over-zealous tackles. Both teams continued to attack in turn.  Hey missed narrowly (and may even have hit the outside of the post, I’m not sure) and then Josh Batty and Alex Flett shot just wide in quick succession for Cleethorpes.  Their equaliser was deserved and came from a powerful set-piece header from a right-wing corner.  Paul Walker was the scorer. That 1-1 score seemed to be set for half-time, until, with the clock at 47 minutes, Batty’s perseverance in the area won a penalty which he duly converted.  It seemed a soft penalty to concede, with the referee judging that Batty had been fouled in the act of shooting.  Needless to say, the decision was hotly disputed. The second half started with all to play for but the game situation changed drastically after only a couple of minutes.  Pontefract’s Gavin Rothery was given a red card for a studs-up tackle.  I was some distance away so can’t comment further, but the ref was well placed.  He then needed to speak to the visitors’ dugout, but I was at the other side of the ground so can’t shed more light.  All of this ramped up the tension. Pontefract were stung into response and Richardson saved superbly from Hey, tipping the ball over the bar.  An equaliser then would have made things interesting, but it was Cleethorpes who scored next, on the break.  Andy Taylor rounded Musselwhite on the right and rolled the ball in to beat a despairing defender’s lunge. The extra man was giving Cleethorpes more time on the ball but they were still having to soak up some pressure.  Pontefract kept on getting the ball into the box, and won successive corners, before being caught on the break once again.  This time, with less than ten minutes left, Jonathan Oglesby did well down the left and timed his pass well.  This time it was Musselwhite’s good initial save that was negated as Flett scored from the rebound. There was still time for Hey to get his second goal of the day, from the penalty spot after the ref had spotted something in a melée during a corner kick.   I was nearby, but can’t be more specific, and that seems to be a theme of the day.  Cleethorpes should probably have got a fifth during stoppage time too.  As a passing neutral, I can’t complain too much about a competitive six-goal game.
Pix
The ground is a work-in-progress but with a good playing surface and clubhouse.  Cleethorpes in blue-and-black.
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.  Table based on the results from the last 174 games watched. Today, Orange beats Blue, against the form book. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 66% (19 from 29) 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 43.1 19.0 7.0 17.1 64.0 14.0 70.0 1.624 Grey 49.5 23.0 11.0 15.5 80.5 14.0 69.5 1.404 Green 90.0 47.0 11.0 32.0 149.0 23.0 118.0 1.311 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 45.5 15.0 8.0 22.5 84.5 7.0 3.5 0.077 Radioactive Bile 21.0 9.0 0.0 12.0 45.0 3.0 -3.0 -0.143 Yellow 35.0 9.0 7.0 19.0 77.0 5.0 -18.0 -0.514 Pink 18.0 5.0 5.0 8.0 37.0 1.0 -12.0 -0.667 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!  32 Step 4 grounds left to do, back to work this week so probably nothing before next Saturday.