Go Go Power Rangers

Front cover of the e-programme (a free pdf file)

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Tuesday 25 October 2022
Result	Crawley Green 1 Risborough Rangers 2
Competition	Spartan South Midlands Premier League (Step 5)
Hopstats	Ground #763 on the lifetime list and I am here because it’s a short midweek journey to an unvisited ground. Have spent the best part of two days glued to chaotic UK politics and this seemed like a good way to escape.
Context
Crawley Green are heading the division with Rangers just on the right side of midway.
In One Sentence
A deserved away victory in a competitive game that was a good advert for the division.
So What?
Crawley Green remain first but Stotfold closed the gap and have a game in hand. Risborough are up to eighth.
Match Report and Clips
If you like planespotting too, chose a daytime game for your visit here. The ground lies pretty much under the final approach, or takeoff line, for the runway at Luton Airport. Also be warned that there is no spectator parking at the ground and you probably need to arrive early to get a reasonably close street parking space. The Brache is Luton Town’s training facility, and it's a standard 3G surface. By the way, it’s an e-programme. Not an issue (haha, see what I did there) for me, but a deal-breaker for some. The game was played at a good pace on this mild October evening, and the result was in doubt right to the end, great for the passing neutral. It was a goalless first half, but not for the want of trying. The visitors had the best of it, and you started to wonder whether they would eventually regret not having a halftime lead to match their dominance. The Crawley Green keeper Daniel Gould was busy and did well on several occasions to keep his side level. Risborough were having more success in getting behind the home defensive line, whereas home attacks were often snuffed out after the first ball forward. One imagines strong words could have been said in the home dressing room at the interval – they had not looked like table toppers. It was no surprise therefore, that Crawley Green fashioned a good chance in the opening moments of the second half. The ball went just wide of the far right-hand post. By this time I’d abandoned trying to take photographs and decided to settle for a couple of clips. The first shows a slick Risborough attack leading to a goal-line clearance, and the second has Crawley Green taking the lead from a break. The scorer is Joe Hankins.   The lead lasted no more than two minutes as Rico Greco stepped up from midfield and hammered an equaliser. The game then rather settled into the same pattern as the first-half. Risborough eventually got their second goal, and the points, courtesy of Asher Yearwood. I don’t think there can be much argument about the result. I headed to the nearby fast-food franchise – the one whose golden arches are visible from the dugouts – and a good number of the winning side turned up just as I was leaving. Perhaps that’s their dietary secret.
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 264 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, Green loses to Blue, which does not change the positions but means that Green’s lead over blue is an utterly insignificant 0.001 of a point per game. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 45% (53 from 119) 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! Quite a few of my grounds need long drives or train journeys and we are entering the season of less certain weather. It’s likely that there will be a lot of last-minute decisions. Plymouth Parkway is the main priority in order to restore “everywhere in the top seven tiers of the pyramid” on my list. Then there are seventeen at Step 4. I doubt whether I will make the next landmark after that before hanging up my notebook as there would be over a hundred more.

 

Rainy, Dear Me, Saw Chi. Ludum Duobus Dimidiis.

e-Programme (pdf)

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 3 October 2020 at Oaklands Park
Result	Chichester City 2 Risborough Rangers 1
Competition	FA Cup Second Qualifying Round
Hopstats	Ground 714, and a non-random visit because the home side announced very clear ticket-purchase arrangements earlier in the week, whereas there was some doubt about availability at my other options. It turned out well – the weather was grim for the drive down but cheered up at lunchtime.
Context
Step 4 (Isthmian League Division 1 South-East) plays Step 6 (Hellenic League Division 1 East) but the visitors are unbeaten this season. City are here by way of a penalty victory over Basingstoke and then a home win against Cribbs, but they have lost both league outings. Risborough have three league victories alongside the cup wins over Longlevens, Winslow United and Cobham. It looks as if this one might be closer than the pyramid would suggest.
In One Sentence
This was a hard-earned victory, probably deserved in the final analysis, but the visitors put up a very good fight and did not look two tiers lower.
So What?
As with all cup matches, the winners go into the proverbial hat on Monday and the losers concentrate on the league.
Pre-match Entertainment
Having set out early because of the prevailing weather, I had time for a walk around the city centre. My first visit here as it happens, and I have to say it made a great impression. It’s a gem. The pedestrianised centre is full of classic architectural character and not like the identikit redevelopment of so many English towns and cities. Lots of history and culture for the rounded groundhopper.
Match Report
I made my first written note on 17 minutes after Rangers had just missed a great chance on the break. Up to that point City had dominated the game territorially, creating a fair few half-chances down the right flank, and looking more likely to score. I winced at the sound of the ball hitting Rangers’ defender Josh Urquhart for a brave block, but he was soon up on his feet again. It was another break against the run of play that gave Rangers the lead just after the half-hour. A low first-time cross from the right wing was converted by Brian Haule for the first goal of the game. City continued where they had left off and continued to threaten. Scott Jones treated the spectators to a lob and an overhead kick, but neither led to a goal. We now had a classic home v away encounter in the sunshine. City forced a succession of corners just before the interval but Jack Brooker punched or deflected the crosses away to protect the lead. Half-time: Chichester City 0 Risborough Rangers 1 The home side made two changes for the second half, and the game quickly settled into the same pattern. The next goal was going to be crucial, and Risborough did offer a threat on the break. It took until the midpoint of the second half for City to get the equaliser. It is credited to sub Kaleem Haitham and it looked from my viewpoint at the other end like there had been a deflection.  The tide had turned now in favour of the home side whose confidence was growing by the minute. The winning goal was also fashioned down the right, and scored at the near post by Lloyd Rowlatt. Risborough had the odd dangerous moment – one ball rolled agonisingly along the six-yard line – but by and large Chichester were able to play out the last fifteen minutes or so to get into the next round. It was a very creditable away performance by the visitors, and the hosts were made to work hard for this win.
Match Pix
Chichester in the green and white stripes.
Ground Pix
Nice set-up with a good playing surface. I’d arrived early and so used the Northgate pay-and-display. The ground is approached by a small service road between two tennis courts.
Opinion
Nothing much I can add to comments in earlier posts about Covid-19 really. Once again the club as an entity was taking it all more seriously than the spectators as individuals. There was plenty of room for me to find a bit of space, and other people respected that, but as in every ground that I have been to so far this season, most people are quietly drawing their own social boundaries with friends and family. Either that or they have no sense of two metres. For me the experience was again arguably safer than my day job in the classroom.
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 215 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, the rarely-seen White beats Purple, but no clean sheet for either. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (34 from 70) 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! Hopefully ticking off another of my remaining 13 Step 4 grounds next weekend, but a lot depends on work, weather and a virus.

Making a Point May Not Be Enough

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Tuesday 17 April 2012 at The Playing Fields, Mursley
Result	Mursley United 0 Risborough Rangers 0
Competition	South Midlands League D2 (Step 7)
Hopping	Lifetime list #463 and a 6.30pm ko without floodlights.  I’m here partly to set the record straight after I previously thought this division was sorted last week.
This match in one sentence
Spoiled by the wind in the first-half, dominated by Risborough in the second, but the lack of a goal dents their title aspirations.
So what?
Mursley United, third with one game left, can finish no lower than fourth.  Risborough are in second and still have a mathematical chance of the title, but this result makes it harder.  One of their games is against the leaders, Aston Clinton.  Risborough can get a maximum of 61pts if they win all four games remaining.  Aston Clinton have 58pts on the board so can even afford to lose to Risborough if they get a win and a draw from their other two games.
The drama unfolds
The first chance fell to Mursley (in the gold-and-black) as #4 came in at pace to meet a corner but the swirling ball wouldn’t have helped.  Then Risborough’s #11 smacked a post with a great left-footer – the ball came back and hit the goalkeeper and could have gone anywhere.  Fortunately for the home side it bounced to safety.  This early action was promising but the rest of the first half was a wind-affected disappointment.  Both teams’ centre-backs did well and dominated and players found it hard to control their passing.  Here are a couple of first-half scene-setter clips.  0-0 at half-time There is not much to be said about the first half of the second half either. Risborough began to press harder and were finishing the stronger.  With 15 minutes left it needed a great defensive block (by #3 I think) to keep the match level.  The final clip is with five minutes to go. There was still time for the visiting #11 to fizz one more low shot just wide, but the man wearing the Aston Clinton jacket looked happy enough as we left.  Final score 0-0
What Next?
No idea – might try and fit in something local tonight, but more likely to be at the weekend.  Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details.