Quality Hopping in Kent

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Monday 1 January 2018 at Shepherds Neame Stadium, Salters Lane
Result	Faversham Town 1 Ashford United 1
Competition	Isthmian Division One South (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 629 on the lifetime list, and I am here indirectly because of Jay Rodriguez of West Bromwich Albion.  He scored a controversial late penalty against Arsenal at the Hawthorns to send me to Sittingbourne.  All is explained in the previous blogpost, in which eleven possible destinations were linked alphabetically to the squad numbers of the Baggies’ goalscorers (or lack thereof).  It’s randomish.  However, the postponement of the Sittingbourne game just before my arrival on their car-park meant a fingers-crossed dash down the A2 to Salters Lane in Faversham.  The officials were testing the bounce, or should I say bloop, of the ball in the six-yard box as I walked in and secured a programme.  I was somewhat surprised, but very, very pleased, that the game was still on.
Context
Other than the fact that this was 18th v 23rd in the division, I knew nothing.
In one sentence
End-to-end entertainment for the passing neutral, and credit to both teams given the conditions underfoot.
So what?
The teams each go up one place in the table.
Match Report
Ashford did most of the early probing, but Faversham also looked ready to pounce on the break.  There was a noticeable physical difference – Ashford have some stereotypical “big lads” up front, whereas Faversham tended to be nimbler and pacier.  For the first 20 minutes or so, Ashford looked more likely to open the scoring but only forced Simon Overland into a few routine stops and saves. Then a turn and dipping shot just over by Faversham’s Ashley Miller reminded Ashford that they were in a game.  It was a cool finish by Liam King, who found himself with a lot of time and space in the box, that opened the scoring on 36 minutes.  It was somewhat against the run-of-play, and Faversham held on to the lead until the half-time interval. The second half maintained the entertainment level and the differences in style.  Visiting keeper Michael McEntegart made a superb save, flicking the ball up onto the woodwork to prevent a second goal.  On the hour mark, Overland was called into action again with a low save from a powerful break. The equaliser was probably deserved on balance and it was poked into the roof of the net from close range by Andrew Dalhouse.  At that point I wondered whether Faversham would fade away – but to be fair, exactly the opposite happened.  The last 20 minutes was gloriously end-to-end as both teams went for the winner.  Faversham will talk about two cynical fouls leading to direct free-kicks but no goals, and a couple of flying saves by McEntegart.  Ashford will point to a few attacking goalmouth scrambles of their own and the fact that they kept Overland working even in stoppage time. All this was much better than I could have expected when I first saw the state of the pitch, and I wish the unsung-hero club groundstaff all the best as they seek to get it ready and recovered for the next game of the year. Faversham Town 1 (King 36) Ashford United 1 (Dalhouse 73) Before After
Ground Pix
This is a ground in transition but still with plenty of old-school charm.  A new (part-completed?) changing-room and toilet block sits alongside the old one ready to be demolished.  A fair mix of terracing and seating with more than enough cover for a rainy day.
Match Pix
Faversham in white-and-black.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Today, Orange and Pink share the points, but no clean sheets, and no change in the rank order, which is now based on 129 games. 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 28.5 9.0 6.0 13.5 46.5 5.0 11.5 0.404 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 15.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 30.0 1.0 -8.0 -0.533 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!  I now feel a moral obligation to go to Sittingbourne sooner rather than later, and my last four Step 3 destinations were listed at the end of the last blogpost.  Thanks, as ever, for your interest.

Baggie Decision

I’m going to let the players from my home-town team, West Bromwich Albion, decide where I will go for groundhopping on New Year’s Day.   I hope that other Albion fans might try out this idea for everyday decisions (where to go, what to wear, who to marry, which takeaway to order etc etc) and it certainly helps to make a typical Albion game just that bit more interesting.

At the time of writing, we are 15 minutes away from kickoff against Arsenal at The Hawthorns.

The key question is: Who (if anyone) will score West Brom’s latest goal in the game?

Notice the pre-match optimism, that there might be more than one.  This is also known as "misguided stupidity".

The players are in squad number order except for the “catchall” category at the end.  The fixtures are in alphabetical order of home team.  All of them are Step 4 in the world of non-league.

If a player is substituted, then the substitute takes over the responsibility.  So, if Gareth McAuley is thrown up front in the 98^th minute by Alan Pardew to replace Jake Livermore, then his 99^th minute winner (I wish) would still send me to Carlton Town.  To be fair, this is not strictly random in the sense that all outcomes are not equally likely, so any pre-match prediction will be sending me to Winchester tomorrow, and NOT because Ben Foster has scored his first of the season.

Squad #	Name	Linked Fixture
3	Gibbs	Alvechurch v Romulus
4	Robson-Kanu	Atherton Collieries v Trafford
6	Evans	Belper Town v Gresley
8	Livermore	Carlton Town v Lincoln Utd
10	Phillips	Clitheroe v Kendal Town
11	Brunt	Corinthian Casuals v Walton Casuals
18	Barry	Ossett Town v Ossett Albion
19	Rodriguez	Sittingbourne v Ramsgate
25	Dawson	South Shields v Scarborough Ath
26	Hegazi	Taunton Town v Bideford Town
1 or none	Foster (or no WBA scorer)	Winchester City v Totton

At the time of kickoff, we start at the default position of a trip to Winchester.  Since I would happily take a 0-0 at this point, it's not so bad.

Update: 15 minutes in and an Jay Rodriguez header has been Albion's best chance, but Petr Cech saved me (for now) from Sittingbourne.  Still headed for Winchester.

Update 2.  Half-time and nothing else to report.  I wouldn't be too upset by a trip to Winchester as long as we have a clean sheet too.

Update 3:  5.53pm and no new development.  Steve Claridge sounding very stressed in the radio summariser role.  Even his colleagues are chiding him for the number of times he has said "higgledy-piggledy".

Update 4: WBA have now used all three subs - Phillips, Brunt and Robson-Kanu replaced by McClean, Krychowiak and Nyom respectively.  The last in particular reduces the chances of a trip to Atherton Collieries.

Update 5: Arsenal's deflected goal makes no difference!

Update 6: Jay Rodriguez scores from the penalty spot!  All the controversy is irrelevant - I'm now headed for Sittingbourne v Ramsgate!