Five-One to the Albions

  

Hopperational Details
Dates & Venues	Saturday 6 January 2024 at The Vestacare Stadium Sunday 7 January 2024 at The Hawthorns
Results	Avro FC 0 Witton Albion 1 West Bromwich Albion 4 Aldershot Town 1
Competition	Sat: Northern Premier League D1 West (Step 4) Sun: FA Cup Round 3
Hopstats	Saturday finds me at ground 773 on the lifetime list, and here because Avro made an early Game On declaration giving me enough time to make the journey north. Mind you, I needn’t have worried – this is a 3G surface. Sunday is a rite-of-passage game for the Yapps. I take over the Grandad role (which means a pocket full of half-time sweets) and join my son and grandson for the latter’s first-ever game. Three generations staying true to the family roots.
Context
Avro are performing very well in their first Step 4 season but maybe of late have struggled to convert draws to wins. Witton Albion are mid-table. West Bromwich Albion are in the Championship play-off positions but are likely to field a side of squad players for the FA Cup game against National League Aldershot. Aldershot have seen off Lewes, Swindon Town and Stockport County in earlier rounds. The Swindon game was a remarkable 7-4 scoreline, with the Shots having been 7-0 up.
In One Sentence Each
Witton Albion edged a very close encounter with a first-half goal, but were pushed to the end. West Bromwich Albion had a comfortable win built on two early goals, Aldershot’s consolation coming at the very end of stoppage time.
So What?
Avro drop to 5th but remain in the play-off places. Witton are three points behind, in 9th. WBA will await the fourth-round draw and Aldershot will concentrate on the FA Trophy in the first instance with a trip to Bishop’s Stortford next weekend.
Match Report : Avro v Witton
The only goal of the game came after 14 minutes. It was a really good finish by Harry Brazel. The ball sat up nicely for a first time low shot into the left corner. These two evenly-matched and well-organised sides then largely cancelled each other out. Witton’s keeper Ollie Martin made one block with his foot and his opposite number James Coates prevented a second Witton goal with a spectacular flying save as the first half ended. The second half started with chances at either end, but gradually Avro’s urgency started to dominate. Witton looked very solid in defence until 69 minutes had passed when Martin made the first of two exceptional saves in quick succession. This was a diving stop with a strong left arm. Avro continued to get the ball into the area and there were a couple of games of pinball which could easily have produced the equaliser. With eight minutes to go the floodlights went out and I wondered whether I would end up having to make this long journey again. My personal groundhopping rules have not yet been tested with an abandonment! Fortunately, illumination was soon restored, the Avro pressure was renewed and the Witton defences did enough. This was a very hard-earned three points for the visitors.
Ground Pix
The Vestacare Stadium has a good deal of character about it, with various types of locations for watching the game. Watch the potholes in the car park if you are coming for an evening game in the dark, though!
Match Pix
Avro in the black and blue stripes.
Match Report : WBA v Aldershot
This game has been well-covered in the mainstream media so I will merely add that the main interest was in the promising performances of a number of young debutants and squad players. The result wasn’t really in doubt once the Baggies were three up after half an hour. Tom Fellows on the right flank had been doing most of the damage, albeit in lots of space that he was allowed by the defence. The first goal was a peach of a finish from Nathaniel Chalobah. The second was a gift for Jovan Malcolm, and the third was a powerful instinctive finish from an inadvertent loose ball by Daryl Dike. This was Dike’s return from serious injury and he did not reappear for the second half. The visiting fans, not unreasonably it has to be said, gleefully gave us a rendition of, “Is this a Library?”. Fellows had to wait until the 88th minute before getting his name on the scoresheet and there was still time for a consolation for Aldershot’s Ollie Bray which took a bit of gloss off the result. Much of the game was played at training ground pace, and Albion conceded a fair bit of possession in the second half, playing on the break. Caleb Taylor looked comfortable on the right side of the back three in his second appearance, and there were five WBA debutants all told. The only one who won’t want to see the highlights again is Layton Love, who skied a good chance when through on the break. Job done, though, and we were at pains to point out to my grandson that … It. Is. Not. Always. Like. This. At. The. Albion.
Ground Pix
Tony Brown, Albion legend of 60s & 70s Boiler Man, current Albion legend. Or laughing stock. Fair play to Aldershot who filled the Smethwick End with 5700 fans
Match Pix
Aldershot in red.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
Usually accompanied by a pre-match prediction on Threads just before kickoff. Working towards being able to compute a respectable test of statistical significance, it looks like an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test will be appropriate. The full keeper top performance table from my last 289 matches is here, on this separate page, and I’ll organise the test when we reach 300 pieces of evidence. This weekend Pink lost to Yellow on Saturday and Grey beat Green on Sunday. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Predictions: Home Win & Home Win Was the prediction correct? No (Sat) & Yes (Sun) % of correct predictions so far 48% (69 from 144)
What Next?
Unsure because we are in the weather-dependent segment of the season. I have to be in the Midlands again next weekend and will look to pick off another one of my 21 target Step 4 grounds if I can. My next chance to tick off Plymouth Parkway to complete Step 3 is not until the following week.

Trophy is Shaded by the Shaymen

 

It’s a (very good) double reverse-orientation programme

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Sunday 21 May 2023 at Wembley
Result	Gateshead 0 FC Halifax Town 1
Competition	FA Trophy Final
Hopstats	Second part of my 27th visit to the refurbished Wembley stadium, and the 30th game (there having been two previous double-headers).
Context
Both these Step 1 clubs were in mid-table at the end of the Conference season. Both needed more than one penalty shoot-out on the cup run, including both the semi-finals where Gateshead beat Barnet and Halifax defeated Altrincham. Halifax had the edge in the two league meetings with a 2-0 home win and a 0-0 draw away.
In One Sentence
Tight and tense at times, Halifax won the game with a goal that was slightly fortuitous but created for them by a short backpass.
Pre-Match
The interval between the two games is the main reason why I have skipped this event many times. No exit or re-admission is allowed, and on my first such occasion I was disgusted by the prices and the range of refreshments on offer. On other occasions the time passed more agreeably because I was part of a group, although one year anything that I would choose for food or drink ran out. I had low expectations that anything would be different, and I was largely right. The inter-game entertainment consisted of loud dance music and another pitchside interview with Stuart Pearce, who performed his regular (but very genuine) ritual blessing on the non-league world. This year, I have Duolingo to hand, and my mastery of the subjunctive tense in Spanish increased significantly before kickoff as I surged up my Diamond League. If you know, you know. You wouldn’t see a happier Owl outside of Sheffield this week. The stadium was segregated into four main zones. I’d been with the animated Newport Pagnell faithful for the first match. (I always Go West if I have the chance, so as not to be sunblasted.) Now, there were more stewards than spectators. There were literally six of us in an entire seating block for the Trophy game. I estimated a total of around 300 remaining on the Vase side of the ground. Halifax outnumbered Gateshead in about the same proportion as NPT had outnumbered Ascot. I’d say 17000 out of the day’s 27000 were still here. In summary, this event doesn’t quite work as a double-header, but I dare say I will tolerate it if it gives players from these sides a chance to play here. My recommendations would be – get rid of extra-time for the Vase final, go straight to penalties if need be. Speed up the presentation and get rid of the pointless pyrotechnics. Reduce the length of the gap between the two games. I’m predicting here and now that none of this will happen, no matter how many times fans give the feedback. Scroll back one post in the blog for the report on the FA Vase final.
The Match Report
I’ll be brief because this match has been well-covered elsewhere now. It was a frantic start, with Halifax on top territorially, but the defences of both sides were well-organised and efficient and I didn’t record any gilt-edged chances for either side. James Montgomery in the Gateshead goal had to be alert and dived bravely at the feet of Rob Harker, but then calamity struck just before half-time, leading to what turned out to be the game’s only goal. A backpass was hit too weakly – Montgomery got to the ball first but his clearance was charged down by Jamie Cooke. The ball looped up gently and bounced into the net. Gateshead responded as you would expect and a header by Owen Bailey flashed just wide. Then Montgomery prevented a second goal for Halifax with a close-range reflex save from Jack Hunter. Although the game was never “over” as a contest at any point, the Halifax defending was effective and resolute. Gateshead created a couple of shooting chances but on both occasions the final shots were weak. As the desperation increased, Halifax keeper Sam Johnson was needed to make a good save from Adam Campbell in the 86th minute, and there would be one more near-miss before the final whistle. I couldn’t face another long wait for a stage-managed presentation so I headed out to walk the four miles back to the Yappmobile at Harrow-on-the-Hill, burning off the over-priced carbs from earlier in the day.
Match Pix
Halifax in Blue.
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 test of statistical significance, it looks like an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test will be appropriate. The full keeper top performance table from my last 279 matches is here, on this separate page, and I’ll organise the test when we reach 300 pieces of evidence. The Halifax keeper top is an unusual one, dominated by Orange & Black from front and back respectively. It’s not the first such event, and the points are divided evenly between the two colours. Either colour would have been predicted to beat the Gateshead Yellow in any event. The two sides of Sam Johnson Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: FC Halifax Town Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 47% (63 from 134)
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! EFL Playoff weekend coming up next and I will try to get to all three games. Two out of three tickets secured so far. I may have to befriend someone from Yorkshire later in the week.