Hertford get a Suffolk Punch

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 30 December 2017 at Recreation Way
Result	Mildenhall Town 2 Hertford Town 0
Competition	Isthmian League Division One North (Step 4) aka Bostik North Division
Hopstats	Number 628 on the lifetime list, and I am here for pragmatic reasons – this is just over an hour away from Yapp Acres and there were a lot of pitch inspections and postponements this morning. “Game On” was declared early enough for me to travel.  Hoppers travelling by car – look for the Free Parking sign adjacent to Costa Coffee.  The postcode on the SatNav took me onto a supermarket car park – you can reach the free zone by driving down a ramp at the far end.  Alternatively set for St Mary’s Close rather than Recreation Way.  The entry turnstile is tucked away at the “bottom” end of the ground near the swimming pool.  Allow time for an excellent burger too!
Context
Two mid-table teams, the visitors ahead by eight points.  Mildenhall, newly-promoted to this level from the Eastern Counties, are on a longish run without a win, though with several draws, and in the programme manager Dean Greygoose is unusually quoted as somewhat critical of his players, promising changes.  That could go either way.  The teams met in a 2-2 draw at Hertford earlier in the season.  Hertford are also new at Step 4 this season, having been promoted from the Spartan South Midlands.
In one sentence
A dour contest for much of the time but home supporters and management will be relieved that the winless run is over.
So what?
Mildenhall are 18th but will need to look over their shoulders for a while yet as most teams beneath them now have games in hand.  Hertford are 13th.
Match Report
Mildenhall kicked down the slope for the first half.  The match kicked off in bright low sunshine but the clouds moved in and the temperature soon began to drop.  The first half had relatively few clear chances.  Mildenhall’s Claudio Ofusu caught the eye initially with some tricky direct running at the opposition defence, but the final pass was usually missing.  He caught the eye of the ref too for a pointless booking later on, deemed to have kicked the ball away at a stoppage.  Hertford tried to get a passing game going, but the surface was tricky and they had to settle for a less risky percentage game.  They had the best chance of the half when Charlie Cole was sent through with only the keeper Jacob Marsden to beat, but he shot well wide.  Then Marsden slipped while clearing to present another chance, but Phil Lowen’s lofted shot came back off the bar.  So, goalless at the interval and all to play for.  With hindsight, those were two bad misses. The teams traded early chances in the second half, and Ofusu started well again with his running with the ball.  One took him all the way from left wing to right wing as Mildenhall built up some pressure.  The breakthrough came after 66 minutes, Joshua Curry arriving at the back post to score with a first-time shot from a corner.  Then the second came six minutes later.  Ofusu anticipated where a second ball would drop then took the ball forward to place a really neat finish just inside the far post. Hertford tried to respond but couldn’t really create anything clear-cut.  There was a brief altercation after a late (unwise and desperate rather than malicious) tackle by their centre-back Michael Toner leading to a yellow card, but in truth Mildenhall were able to hold on easily enough for the win.  Fair play to the travelling support who took the frustrating defeat on the chin with a degree of good humour. Mildenhall Town 2 (Curry 66, Ofusu 72) Hertford Town 0
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Mildenhall are in gold-and-black.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Radioactive Bile, with a clean sheet, beats Grey to climb two places in the table.  Grey stays 4th.  The table also includes my unblogged trip to Brentford v Villa on Boxing Day, where Yellow scored a 2-1 victory over Green. Results so far: 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 9.0 4.0 1.0 4.0 9.0 3.0 19.0 2.111 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.500 Blue 30.1 12.0 6.0 12.1 47.0 10.0 45.0 1.495 Grey 42.5 20.0 9.0 13.5 70.5 11.0 53.5 1.259 Green 69.0 34.0 9.0 26.0 117.0 17.0 79.0 1.145 Orange 27.5 9.0 5.0 13.5 45.5 5.0 11.5 0.418 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 28.0 8.0 6.0 14.0 58.0 5.0 -3.0 -0.107 Pink 14.0 4.0 4.0 6.0 29.0 1.0 -8.0 -0.571 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!  Weather permitting, my Step 3 priorities are Ashton United, Athersley Recreation (as Shaw Lane’s landlords), Tiverton Town and Whitby Town.

Light Blue is the Colour

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Thursday 7 December 2017 at Twickenham
Result	Oxford University 10 Cambridge University 20
Competition	The 136th Varsity Match
Hopstats	Third time I have been work-free on a Thursday to get to this fixture.  Not a new stadium for the list as I have also been here for Schools Finals days and several internationals.
Context
Results-wise, Oxford have had the better season, but Cambridge arrive in good shape after their warm-up victory at Grange Road over the Steele-Bodger XV (see recent blogpost).  Weather forecast for the afternoon was thankfully better than the horrendous morning but conditions will be tricky for amateur players.  My friends and I noted these conditions from the warmth of breakfast at Bill’s in Richmond followed by several pints, lunch and more pints at the Prince’s Head on Richmond Green.
In one sentence
Closer than the score suggests, but a deserved win for the Light Blues.
So what?
Cambridge lead 63-59 with 14 draws since the fixture was first played in 1872.
Match Report
This is a retrospective I-was-there post.  It was great to see Selwyn’s Buchan Richardson starting at Number 8 and even better when he touched the ball down in the corner in the early minutes.  However, first impressions were confirmed when the video referee (or whatever they are called) ruled it out.  This was going to happen three times to Cambridge as light blue followers wondered whether missed opportunities would be back for haunting purposes later on. Mediocre snap captures the ball and Richardson's hand but fails to prove that he was tackled into touch The first half was dour in difficult conditions.  Each side spent long periods in turn encamped in their defensive 22, with only the occasional penalty or other error giving a chance to break out.  Both defences held well, but with Oxford looking faster and more fluent in the passing game. The deadlock was broken by Cambridge scrum-half and man-of-the-match Chris Bell.  The pack pushed Oxford back at one of their own scrums and Bell went through for the try.  The relatively easy conversion was missed in Twickenham’s notorious conditions.  Oxford captain Conor Kearns landed a penalty, and Cambridge missed one. The invisible referee with the TV set also ruled out two more scores for Cambridge before the half-time whistle came with the score at 3-5 and the result very much in the balance.  To be fair, the decisions looked correct.  Cambridge captain Charlie Amesbury was held without grounding the ball, and Jake Hennessey had received a forward pass.  It looked as if this game would come down to impact subs and fitness in the last quarter. Mike Phillips restored a five-point margin with a Cambridge penalty before a long delay for an injury to forward Andrew Hunter.  Maybe that enforced break meant that there were fewer errors due to fatigue in the closing stages.  Oxford made their substitutions earlier.  Cambridge missed a good chance when the last pass of a cross-field move went astray before Archie Russell scored in the corner to give some breathing space at 3-13. Oxford came back strongly and Will Wilson finally breached the Cambridge line for a try, converted by Kearns and so the margin was back to only 3pts at 10-13.  It was going to be a tough 15 minutes. Fortunately it was Cambridge’s turn to be on the attack, and their pack delivered the winning score with a drive from a line-out, getting the ball to full-back Amesbury to go over the line.  Phillips converted to give a ten-point lead and there was insufficient time for Oxford to close that gap, especially now some clean-shirted fit-and-ready light blue subs were in the defensive pack. This was an effective rather than an effusive performance by Cambridge, but this is a big occasion in the student rugby calendar and the result matters more than the style.  If I am not plucked back into science teaching by then, I’ll be back next year.
Ground Pix
The lower tier is used and the atmosphere is not unlike Non-League finals day at Wembley.
Match Pix
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  Nothing definite in the diary, and decisions at this time of year are often last-minute because of the weather.