In the Cup for Tott-ern-hoe

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 3 February 2018 at Totternhoe Recreation Ground
Result	Totternhoe 5 Crawley Green Reserves 0
Competition	Bedfordshire Senior Trophy Semi-Final
Hopstats	Ground 634. Was staying local this week, partly due to the weather and partly because of a trip next week, but the Codicote game was called off.  A quick check on Twitter revealed possibilities in the downlands of Bedfordshire and in the end I made it to Totternhoe in good time for kickoff.  Sedimentary chalk bedrocks from the Cretaceous and Jurassic eras allow for quicker drainage, as any groundhopper will tell you.
Context
No time for much research.  This is a cup semi-final so I am expecting a competitive game.  Totternhoe are sitting 3rd in Spartan South Midlands D2, and Crawley Green Reserves are leading the Bedfordshire Senior League.
In one sentence
A runaway win in the second half, with Totternhoe scoring well-taken goals at good times and a final score somewhat harsh on the visitors.
So what?
Totternhoe play Cranfield United under floodlights in the Final, somewhere to be confirmed, on Wednesday 7 March.
Match Report
Thanks to the Totternhoe Twitter feed for help to identify goalscorers. Not surprisingly after all the rain, this was a heavy and slippery pitch. The first half was largely forgettable with few really clear chances created.  The ref imposed his authority with three early yellow cards as the conditions encouraged the sliding tackle.  Totternhoe did most of the early pressing but Crawley Green were getting back into the game in the latter stages of the first half.  Nothing much else to write about as the whistle went for the break.  At half-time I could have bought a jar of chutney, presumably in aid of club funds, but I went for the more conventional Mars Bar.  There is a very un-PC statuette of a smiling black person in the corner of the bar, wearing what must be a club tie.  There must be a story behind it, but I didn’t ask.  It ought to end up in a skip very soon now that we all know that the era of these things is rightly over.  I messed up my pic but you get the idea. Fed up with being drizzled on, I watched the second half from the covered patio area of the clubhouse, and as it turned out all the goals were down this end.  The first chance was averted by a timely defensive deflection for a corner, but just before the hour Joe Smith was tripped in the box and scored from the resulting penalty, even though the keeper dived the right way. The same player scored with a placed shot seven minutes later after a quick break from defence, to punish the visitors who had been forced to press forward. The third was another classy finish on the break, and effectively secured the win.  Joel McCormick controlled a through ball then chose his moment to flick the ball high and over the advancing keeper into the net.  Effective, and rather annoying if you were in a blue shirt.  Any worries I had about extra-time and penalties evaporated.  As it turns out, only the latter would have applied anyway. There were two more goals in the last ten minutes to add insult to injury.  A rehearsed move, including “use your big sub to block the keeper’s route to the ball”, gave Wayne O’Connor a chance to head home at the far post from a corner.  Then another sub, Andy Cleere, was in acres of space and we all enjoyed his textbook volley from a right-wing cross.  Great finishing from the home side.  Crawley Green weren’t five goals worse than Totternhoe in their general performance, but they lacked the home side’s cutting edge today.
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Totternhoe in red.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
A big win and a clean sheet for Green, who go up one place, over Yellow. Results so far after 134 matches: 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 deserves to be last, 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 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 Purple 11.0 5.0 2.0 4.0 25.0 2.0 2.0 0.182 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 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 Fire Cracker 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -4.000
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  I am flying out of the UK on Tuesday and if all goes to plan there will be an unusual post in midweek.  That is what, in the trade, they call a teaser.  Consider yourselves teased.

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.