Mousehole Challenge Wilts in Wilts

Even though I arrived at the turnstiles at 2.15pm, the person in front of me purchased the final programme, so no programme pic here.

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 26 April 2025 at Oakfield Stadium
Result	Melksham Town 2 Mousehole 2
Competition	Southern League Division One South (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 799 on the lifetime list. I’ve chosen this game because it is the only one at an unvisited Step 4 ground today where the result seriously matters to one of the sides.
Context
Melksham are safe in upper mid-table and whatever happens will finish 8th. Mousehole need a win, and possibly a big one. They start the day in the final playoff position, but are level on points with Exmouth, who are away at Larkhall. There is a favourable goal difference of +2 in Mousehole’s favour. Larkhall have only just escaped relegation themselves so Exmouth will be expected to win. A draw will do for Mousehole only if Exmouth draw too (or lose). If Exmouth win, Mousehole must win too with only a one goal difference at most in the margin of victory. I suppose they could both lose, but that is very unlikely.
Match Report
Melksham quickly showed that they were not going to roll over. They fashioned the first real chance with a driven ball across the six-yard box from their right, and an inrushing attacker was only inches away from converting. It was end to end, but no great surprise when Melksham did take the lead. A cross flicked the head of a defender and left Jake Andrews in space for a far-post tap-in. The referee checked with his assistant before confirming the goal, silencing the visitors’ considerable protests claiming offside. The assistant would go on to get plenty of abuse from the visiting fans as the game went on. The game continued to be competitive and entertaining. At half-time, the internet coughed up the fact that Exmouth were already two up at Larkhall so even two goals for Mousehole might not be enough. The second half started in the same vein, and Mousehole got their equaliser after 56 minutes. A low shot from Josh Bernard nestled in the corner to restore some hope. However, within a few minutes Exmouth had doubled their lead at Larkhall and it looked like the Mousehole playoff chances would need a hatful of late goals. There were indeed two late goals, but the first went to Melksham with four minutes to go, scored by substitute Louis Millard. The best goal of the day went to Mousehole’s Jack Symons with a cracking volley in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Well done to both sides for their part in a very decent end-of-season game, and commiserations in particular to the Cornish visitors. In the final analysis, a run of only one win in the last five games was not quite enough.
So What?
Both teams will start next season in the same division – it is unlikely that either will be subject to any geographical switching. The divisional playoff semi-finals are in midweek.
Pix
Melksham in yellow and black.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today Orange and the relatively rare Red draw, but Red remain at the top of an unchanged ranking of the colours. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (88 from 181)
What Next?
Ground 800! Other than that, no idea as things stand. There is a possibility of a playoff final somewhere next weekend, but all would depend on the semi-final outcomes in midweek.

Cornish Crunch Game is Hard Cheese for Mousehole

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Monday 26th August at Kellaway Park
Result	Helston Athletic 4 Mousehole 2
Competition	Southern League Division One South
Hopstats	Ground 790 on my lifetime list, taking the chance to tick off one of the longer journeys on my hopping priority list.
Context
Helston were promoted to Step 4 from the Western League last season, the same route taken by Mousehole the year before. Both sides have made good starts to the league season though social media posts and a reduced subs list suggest that the visitors are depleted by injuries.
Match Report
This was an entertaining game, though the result was probably settled just before the hour when Helston got their third goal. The victory was due in no small part to their aerial dominance at set pieces. The early lead came after just six minutes when Mousehole’s keeper Ollie Chenoweth missed his punch, having called, and Jack Crago headed in. The second was a straightforward planted header by Aaron Bentley from a left-wing free kick. Helston had had much success down their right flank, including throw-in routines that seemed to work over and over again for them. It was 2-0 at half-time and could have been more. Credit therefore to Mousehole who scored a good goal soon after the break. Good work by number 11 who gave an inviting pass for number 9 Mark Goldsworthy as the home defence backed off. However, the result was in doubt for just a few minutes. The aforementioned third goal was again from a set-piece, and they added a fourth just ten minutes later. The scorers were a reprise of Crago and Aaron Bentley. Mousehole’s 11 (Jack Symons, I believe) added to his earlier assist with a consolation goal at the second attempt with 15 minutes or so left, but the home side were able to hold comfortably enough for their win. It had been a long drive to get here, and was to be an even longer one back the next day, but I’m very glad to have got this tick. So completes my bank holiday treble from Ipswich to Helston via Wokingham. I noted the big difference between the two step four crowds of 387 today and 82 two days ago in Suffolk, with Wokingham's Sunday Vase fixture somewhere in between.
Pix
Helston in blue ...   "Today's visitors are known as The Seagulls ..."
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today Orange defies the colour league table with a win over Grey. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (82 from 169)
What Next?
No definite plans but quite possibly an FA Cup tie at a Step 4 ground at the weekend. At some point there will be three more trips in this direction as Plymouth Parkway, Falmouth Town and Mousehole itself are all on my priority list for this season.

 

Good Point in a One Horse Town

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Monday 2 January 2023 at Meadow Lane
Result	Westbury United 1 Melksham Town 1
Competition	Southern League Division One South (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground #765 on the lifetime list and I am here pragmatically because of the 1.00pm kickoff making it much the most attractive of my alternatives for a Bank Holiday drive on England’s motorways!
Context
A mid-table clash, Westbury a few points off the promotion playoff places and Melksham a few points above the relegation ones, only three points between them. This is the home side’s first season at this level, which is why they have appeared on my priority list.
In One Sentence
A first-half with two freekick goals and a feisty ending after a red card for the home side, eventually petering out into the draw that is not a terrible result for either team.
So What?
The teams end the day 11th and 13th respectively in their league table.
Pre-match Entertainment
After the long drive past Stonehenge, time to visit the nearby white horse (well, currently whit-ish) of ancient cultural significance in this beautiful part of England. By chance, there was also a gathering of people whose cars are named after the French for two horses. From this point you can also throw yourself into the air in a padded bag and put Newton’s Laws of Motion to the test if you feel so inclined.
Match Report
Westbury took the lead with a low, well-struck freekick into the bottom right corner. It looked from my position that it could have gone underneath the jumpers in the wall. Good goal, captured in the photo below, scored by Ryan Bole.     The same player so nearly added a second. Winning the ball just outside the area as Melksham tried to play from the back, he smashed a shot against the bar. The visitors’ patient approach to their play is also worth a mention. Their general tactic seemed to be to keep possession and pass their way through the opposition lines. In the first half it had been pretty but also pretty ineffective. Then they won a freekick for handball just outside the box and I also captured in this pic the ball on its way into the net for the equaliser, scored by Sam Hendy. I can only hope the ref had decided that there was movement of hand to ball (the player was side-on to me so I can’t say) because there is no way he could have reacted in time to get it out of the way. It was starting to get tetchy. A heavy tackle from a Melksham defender led to a freekick and a yellow card, with players crowding the official. Then a tackle by Westbury’s Charlie Walton earned a straight red just before half-time. This changed both half-time team talks, I should imagine, as the teams went into the break level at 1-1. As the second half got under way, Westbury began to look content to play on the break. Melksham continued their patient approach, which became less effective as the players tired and the surface roughed up a bit. They really should have taken the lead, though, and it took a spectacular block from the home defence to keep the scores level. As the game became more open, Westbury gradually increased their own threat and for a while looked just as likely to score, before a pretty tame last fifteen minutes or so confirmed the result, as the two teams cancelled each other out. Honours even, as they say.
Other Match Pix
Westbury in green.
Ground Pix
This fixture was well-managed by the club, with a bumper crowd of over 800 in attendance for this bank holiday local derby. It was clear that some thought had gone into making it a pleasant experience for spectators, and the whole enterprise came across as being run by competent people who care.
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 266 matches is here, on this separate page. Today, the points are shared by Green and Red, and there are no changes to the positions. I was slightly surprised to see the pale green top allowed alongside the darker green for his team-mates. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 44% (53 from 121) 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! Plymouth Parkway remains on my list as the only unvisited Step 3 ground but that will probably have to wait until better weather in the spring. I also have 16 to visit at Step 4, including Guernsey. At this time of year my destination decisions tend to be pragmatic and last-minute rather than truly random. The randomness will return.