Anchors on the Rise - a D8 with Destination

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 20 November 2021
Result	Stockton Town 4 Tadcaster Albion 0
Competition	Northern Premier League (Division One) East (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 736 on my lifetime list and I am here because I rolled a 7 on a standard d8 octahedral die on Thursday evening. I am here by car (which was not the original plan) because of engineering works on the East Coast main line! Here’s the proof:
Context
Stockton’s recent league record is WLWDD and they sit in eighth place. Tadcaster’s is an anagram, LWWDD, but they are fifteenth. They are a few points away from their respective dotted lines for playoffs or relegation.
In One Sentence
A comfortable second half following on from a clinical first half.
So What?
As it happens, no change in the league position for either team, but the points gaps to those dotted lines have lessened.
Pre-match Entertainment
After a long drive, I had time to pause briefly at the Infinity Bridge in the last of the late morning sunshine. It gets the name because the bridge’s two arches, together with their reflections, look like the infinity symbol from the next bridges along the river. The other picture is of the Tees Barrage.
Match Report
Tadcaster looked ambitious early on and there was an element of unexpected softness about Stockton’s first goal. A ball over the top into Route One gave Alfie Conway a shooting chance and although keeper Ally Hughes got a touch, the ball nestled in the corner of the net. Tadcaster continued to look neat in midfield but the second good chance also came to Stockton, with Nathan Steel shooting over the bar. We had reached the midpoint of the first half.  The second goal was probably the hinge point of this game. Mikey Roberts was bundled over in the penalty area by Romario Vieira and he scored from the spot himself.  Then, still only just after the half-hour mark, a neat lay off from Roberts to the onrushing Dan McWilliams gave the defender the opening to score the best-worked goal of the day. For once this season, the action had been right in front of me rather than at the other end. It would now have to be something exceptional to deny Stockton the points. The second half would need an early response from Tadcaster to change the story, but Stockton could now play risk-free football. The visitors continued to look neat in midfield with some good running with the ball, but the defence stayed disciplined to shepherd them wide or to block when the time came. It looked fairly straightforward as these things go. The purple-clad Callum Roberts had nothing much to do except to boot a child’s football (accidentally to be fair) straight out of the ground. The only time Tadcaster had the ball in the net, it was correctly disallowed for handball, and in any case by then Stockton had added their fourth, a classic far post header from a set piece, scored by Adam Nicholson. This passing neutral has to be content with an impressive demolition job done rather than a result in doubt until the end.
Match Pix
Stockton in yellow and blue.
Ground Pix
Artificial surface, part of a shared complex with the sixth form college. A substantial clubhouse is at the other end of the site. On arrival, turn left for the pitch, right for the bar.
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 237 matches is here, on this separate page. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 49% (45 from 92) 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! Thirteen grounds to go at Step 4, seven northish and six southish, most of them quite long trips (especially Guernsey!). It’s possible that the season for pitch inspections and postponements will arrive soon, so it may be a while before the next one. In such cases the declaration that the game is on rarely gives me time enough to travel.

 

Belper Town a Tad Unlucky But Grafting Brewers Hold On

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 26 January 2019 at the i2i Stadium, Ings Lane
Result	Tadcaster Albion 2 Belper Town 1
Competition	Northern Premier League Division One East (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 676 on the lifetime list.  I am here randomishly today because (takes deep breath) this is my closest unvisited Step 4 ground to Varberg on the west coast of Sweden, which is the birthplace of Niclas Eliasson of Bristol City, who was the scorer of the final (and winning) goal in last night’s FA Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers.  It is highly unlikely that this sentence has ever been written before in the English language, even by an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters.  It probably won’t be needed again.  All the evidence is in the preceding blogpost or on my Twitter timeline.  The former has the calculations and the formula should any other groundhoppers wish to adopt randomishness in their travels.
Context
5th v 9th. Tadcaster are sitting in a playoff position and Belper are only three points behind, albeit having played two games more.  The home side are not in great form, with two draws following two losses in their last four league games after a long unbeaten run.  Tadcaster won the reverse fixture 3-1 away back in November.  Belper are also without a win in three, their last win being a thumping victory at Gresley on New Year’s Day.
In one sentence
The ground’s crossbars helped Tadcaster secure this hard-fought victory, backing up their decisive goals which came very early in each half.
So what?
Tadcaster stay 5th, Belper drop to 11th.
Match Report
My pre-match pie and peas came from a serving hatch with a prominent bowl of bananas and apples up front.  I commented that it is rare to see these options at football, and was told they were popular with the players.  This led on to a discussion about the emergence of “pickle juice” in the sporting world as a cramp reliever, but these northern caterers reckon that bone broth is the business. After just two minutes, Tadcaster took the lead at the other end from me with what looked like a straightforward header from a right-wing free-kick.  The club’s Twitter feed confirmed that Billy Whitehouse indeed delivered for Harry Coates to score.  Belper could have levelled immediately as Piteu Crouz swivelled in the box but shot just over the bar. The game developed as a predominantly physical and aerial battle with little between the sides.  Belper’s next chance came on 20 minutes when they hit the bar from the second corner forced in quick succession. Their aerial threat was often reinforced by the arrival of the centre-backs, which of course left them somewhat vulnerable to a break.  The equaliser proved elusive.  Home keeper James Hodges was unable to fully control a difficult backpass, itself forced by Belper pressing, but he recovered easily enough to clear as the ball trickled towards the line. The teams continued to trade half-chances.  It was tough rather than pretty.  Tadcaster wasted some opportunities of their own, but the half-time whistle arrived with the score still at 1-0. With the perfection of hindsight, the fact that the second goal came so early after the restart was crucial.  I had wandered to the other end, so once again I needed Twitter to confirm the scorer but the club was equally in the dark.  It had seemed to be a surprise goal from a left-wing corner so either it went straight in or it was an accidental or flukey flick. The record books are now showing Aiden Savory as the scorer. The Belper response was again immediate.  A penalty appeal was turned down when the ball flicked accidentally from boot to hand.  There were plenty of crunching tackles and the odd yellow card being shown too.  The visitors were, not unreasonably, sensing that at least a draw could still be salvaged.  Tadcaster held on while perhaps being pushed into defending deeper.  There were some heroic and brutal blocks in and around the box.  On 72 minutes, Crouz hit the bar with an excellent freekick.  Then Belper centre-back Isaac Assenso, again up with the attack, found himself in a right-wing position.  He delivered a superb curling cross, only for the crossbar to intervene again as the ball pinged around in the Tadcaster area.  It was not their day. As the rain arrived, Crouz eventually did get on the scoresheet for a consolation goal in stoppage time.  It had been a compelling contest for the passing neutral and I will look forward to a trip to Belper sometime in the next few months.
Pix
Tadcaster in yellow-and-blue.  Tidy ground with plenty of banners, a decent surface and good clubhouse, tucked away behind the iconic John Smith’s brewery, and hence the interesting background architecture.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
New this season – a pre-match prediction on Twitter based only on keeper top colours as a preliminary test of the data.  Proper statistical significance test to follow in due course. Green v Green today so a draw was predicted.  Neither keeper kept a clean sheet so the PPG for Green has reduced slightly, but not enough to affect any of the positions of these colours, based now on 177 games. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Draw Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 63% (20 of 32) 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. 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 44.1 19.0 7.0 18.1 68.0 14.0 66.0 1.497 Grey 49.5 23.0 11.0 15.5 80.5 14.0 69.5 1.404 Green 94.0 50.0 11.0 33.0 154.0 23.0 122.0 1.298 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 21.0 8.0 4.0 9.0 45.0 5.0 8.0 0.381 Orange 45.5 15.0 8.0 22.5 84.5 7.0 3.5 0.077 Radioactive Bile 21.0 9.0 0.0 12.0 45.0 3.0 -3.0 -0.143 Yellow 35.0 9.0 7.0 19.0 77.0 5.0 -18.0 -0.514 Pink 18.0 5.0 5.0 8.0 37.0 1.0 -12.0 -0.667 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!  29 Step 4 grounds left to do and I hope to be on the road again next Saturday.