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.

 

Biggleswade United Flying Again

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Friday 28 December 2018 at Hutchinson Hollow
Result	Potton United 1 Biggleswade United 2
Competition	Spartan South Midlands Premier League (Step 5)
Hopstats	Ground 670 on the lifetime list and I am here because it is Friday night in the school holidays and I am up to date with everything!
Context
The B1040 Derby.  5th v 4th in the league although Biggleswade United have played more games.  Both drew 2-2 last time out, the visitors against league leaders Biggleswade FC in El Wadico.  Yes, really.  Potton are at this level having been moved across following promotion from the real UCL (the United Counties League) at the end of last season.  Meanwhile, can anyone name a town smaller than Biggleswade that has three teams at Step 5 and above?  Biggleswade Town are in Step 3.  (GY note: corrected from first publication.)
In one sentence
Too close for comfort for Bigglewade United.
So what?
It remains 5th and 4th respectively but Biggleswade United are closing down Hadley in 3rd place.
Match Report
I watched the game from the main stand in the company of Eddie McGeown of www.footballhopper.com and we traded a few tales from our shared worlds of schools and hopping.  There were quite a few hoppers in attendance.  On the pitch the visitors took the lead in the 13th minute when Tony Williams smashed in a loose ball in the area.  The match settled into an end-to-end contest with remarkably little moaning and whinging from the players – very refreshing after some of the antics I have seen of late.  This is not to say that it was a match without passion or cards.  Potton’s Jordan Wright was the most memorable caution on the half-hour – there was only one thing going to happen as he steamed towards the opposition’s flying winger.  It was a textbook clattering.  Both teams played direct attacking football and tried to use the width of the pitch.  Sadly it was usually that proverbial final ball that was lacking and the one-goal margin was preserved until the interval. The first chance of the second half fell to Potton.  A strong direct run and shot by Danny Webb needed a good block and then the same again from a rebound.  However, Biggleswade United got their second shortly afterwards.  Kane Farrell gets some kind of assist – his first-time shot was heading wide enough to hit a team-mate and rebound into the danger area.  He had another chance to cross the ball and eventually the ball was bundled over the line by Sam Holmes. Potton were not finished off by any means and forced several corners in quick succession.  Just after the hour, Webb scored from another one with an unchallenged header.  Great for the neutral – game on.  I was among several who thought for a moment Cody Spavins had scored a third for Biggleswade with a looping header.  Then the lack of celebration confirmed that it had gone just over.   That man Webb turned up at the other end, arriving from the acres of space that Biggleswade United had donated to ping a shot across the keeper and off the far post.  The rebound fell kindly for the visitors.  Potton got the ball flying across the area a few more times before the final whistle confirmed the away win.
Pix
Potton in blue.  Friendly club, excellent clubhouse and refreshments, good playing surface.
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. Today, as predicted, Orange loses to Green, but neither has a clean sheet.  No change (yet again) in league table positions. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 65% (17 from 26) 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.  Table based on last 171 matches seen. 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 49.5 23.0 11.0 15.5 80.5 14.0 69.5 1.404 Green 88.0 45.0 11.0 32.0 148.0 22.0 108.0 1.227 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 44.5 14.0 8.0 22.5 82.5 7.0 2.5 0.056 Radioactive Bile 21.0 9.0 0.0 12.0 45.0 3.0 -3.0 -0.143 Yellow 34.0 9.0 7.0 18.0 73.0 5.0 -14.0 -0.412 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!  Hopefully a Step 4 ground on Saturday (tomorrow as I write this).  Shortlist of four but choice will depend on weather, travel prospects and so on.  Maybe something last-minute of a random or randomish nature.