Bourne Equality

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Monday 31 August 2026 at Mortgages For You Stadium, Tattershall Road
Result	Boston Town 1 Bourne Town 1
Competition	Northern Premier League Division One Midlands (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground #817 on my lifetime list. Here rather than elsewhere with a one-in-four chance as shown in the video clip above.
The Randomness
The “castle” on the Czech 10-koruna coin turns out on further research to be the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul in Brno. The obverse is indeed a rather rampant heraldic Lion. The Irish penny coin has a Celtic harp obverse and a hen-and-chick parade on the reverse.
Context
It was only just before kickoff that I realised that my visit to Bourne Town in May 2025 was probably the last time that these clubs met. On that day, Bourne won promotion on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the playoff. Boston Town got automatic promotion from the United Counties League last season, so now both clubs have reached Step 4.
Match Report
Bourne were forced into a very early substitution and it wasn’t long before they conceded. Zak Munton’s neat curling shot into the far corner gave the keeper no chance. Boston had two more shooting chances before the Bourne equaliser. The ball fell nicely for Zac Allen after a long throw and he made no mistake. 1-1 The game now settled into a very even and end-to-end contest. Both sides created half-chances but generally defences did well. It was never a dull encounter. For a while, Bourne played the more measured on-the-floor approaches in contrast to more directness down the channels from Boston. There were no further goals before the interval. The second half provided more of the same. I made a note after about 70 minutes that Bourne were very slightly in ascendance, but with very little in it. The game continued at a good pace. Both keepers were well-protected by their defences and they did what they had to do, often looking for early release of counter-attacks. Credit to both sides for not settling for the draw. This could have gone either way in the final few stretched and frantic minutes. Probably a fair result but both sides will have recollections of half-chances that could have won all three points.
So What?
Still very early days for league tables as some clubs have played more cup games than others, or had matches postponed due to cup involvement by their opponents. Boston Town are mid-table with seven points from five games, Bourne Town are lower with four points but they have only played three league games.
Pre-match Entertainment
A walk around Boston town centre in the lunchtime sunshine. I found it somewhat ironic that a town so closely associated with migration based largely on religious affiliation should now have a number of St George flags hanging pathetically here and there around the place. None but the brave deserve the (Boston) Fair !
Pix
This ground is now in transition between Step 5 and Step 4 requirements and more work will be needed if the team stays at this level. Staff and volunteers were universally friendly and helpful, but the teacher in me would love the spelling errors to be corrected before too long! The ground has some interesting features such as the press box and has plenty of cover against the eastern England breezes. The pitch was decent enough to allow each team to play its chosen style.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today, Pink (Sam Edwards) v Yellow (Will Lakin). Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 48% (108 from 223)
What Next?
Probably London City Lionesses v Manchester United Women on Friday evening in Bromley, unless I try for a Herts Senior League game later today. In other news, @ModusHRandom on Twitter has been re-started and at the time of writing I have precisely one follower. I do understand, I’m increasingly niche these days!

 

 

Going to Cambridge Again

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Sunday 30 August 2026 at Grange Road (Cambridge University Rugby Union FC)
Result	Cambridge United Women 3 Dulwich Hamlet Women 2
Competition	FA Women’s National League D1 South-East, in the fourth tier of the women’s pyramid.
Hopstats	Ground #816 on my list, and I am here pragmatically due to the fairly short journey. I’ve been here several times for rugby union games but Grange Road can now enter my main groundhopping spreadsheet. As a student I lived for four years in Cripps Court of Selwyn College, the building in the background of some of my photos.
Context
It’s early in the season. Cambridge United have started with a win and a defeat, Dulwich Hamlet with two draws.
Match Report
Cambridge did most of the early pressing but with no end product. Dulwich were restricted to occasional breaks in the classic away team method. The visiting support in particular brought some noise to the occasion and I found myself googling why they have the extremely quaint cowbells. Or extremely irritating if you are sat next to a small child equipped with one, trust me on this. Most Cambridge danger came from set pieces or crosses, and Dulwich had a goal disallowed for offside. When the visiting keeper Tia Ginn had to make two saves in quick succession I noted that it was just a matter of time before Cambridge scored. What do I know? An unselfish pass gave an easy chance for Dulwich’s Leila Emmerson after the home defensive line had been broken. The home side suddenly looked rather ragged but they also missed a good headed chance for Olivia Cooke as half-time approached. They had been wasteful whereas the visitors had been particularly efficient. Offside this time Cambridge started the second half well, though. A couple of times the ball did not quite drop nicely for them in the penalty area and I noted just before the hour that they probably deserved an equaliser. It soon came with a textbook downward header from a corner, Abbie Jackson on the scoresheet from Sophie Jeffery’s delivery. They then took the lead. A misplaced Dulwich pass in midfield allowed Mollie Coupar to step in and finish calmly. Another dangerous corner curled just wide as the home side asserted themselves once more and it was Dulwich’s turn to look disorganised. It took a good save from Ginn to keep the score at 2-1 but not for long. On 82 minutes, the ball fell nicely from a corner this time and sub Cheyanna Norman scored the home side’s third Credit to Dulwich who kept going and put the result in doubt with a goal of their own after 86 minutes through Summer Roberts, and they were to have another good chance with a shot that drifted wide. The home keeper Lauren Webb, who had had a busy afternoon, had to make a good brave save after a misplaced clearance in these final tense minutes. A draw would have been fair but Cambridge held on by going to the corner flag in the last seconds. At the end of the game, I walked past my old rooms in Cripps Court and hoped that whoever is installed in them for the new term next month will embrace the traditional sports of corridor cricket and yogurt-pot football that may have taken place (depends who’s asking) on M staircase in the 1970s.
So What?
United go third in the division after three games. Hamlet are ninth (of twelve) and with two draws in their other games, are still looking for their first league win of the season.
Pix
This ground has been upgraded to an artificial surface and is currently an unusual mix of the old and new. The wooden stand with its bench seats is the kind that gets some groundhoppers excited. Cambridge in amber 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, I initially assigned Red from a distance as the colour for the Hamlet ‘keeper, but this turned out to be incorrect. Definitely Pink. Cambridge’s ‘keeper was in classic Green. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 49 (108 from 222)
What Next?
Maybe I kick my professional prep down the line for another day and head out for a Bank Holiday Monday hop. Will depend on weather and traffic. (Spoiler : I was at Boston Town, blogpost to follow.)

Red Top, Red Mist, Red Card

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 29 August 2016 at The Memorial Ground
Result	Little Oakley 2 Biggleswade 2 (Biggleswade win 4-1 on penalties)
Competition	FA Trophy First Round Qualifying
Hopstats	Ground #815 on the lifetime list, and I am here randomishly because of the roll of a die, in the manner of the early days of this blog, almost 600 blogposts ago.
Context
Both teams play at Step 4, the hosts in the Isthmian League D1 North and the visitors in the Southern League D1 Central. Biggleswade narrowly missed promotion to Step 3 last season, and Little Oakley are playing their first ever FA Trophy fixture after their promotion as Essex Senior League champions.
Match Report
Well, for a passing neutral like me, this was compelling entertainment. Maybe not of the highest quality in terms of tactics and execution, but with a result in doubt until the closing seconds, and with an inexplicable late twist. Biggleswade led 1-0 at the interval, and on balance they deserved that. Little Oakley came back with two goals after the interval and it looked like their promising start to the season would continue. Of course, knockout competitions breed risk-taking and desperation, and Biggleswade got an equaliser in stoppage time, a neat finish by Alex Marsh. I was at the other end from this goal, and cannot tell you what provocation led the red-clad home goalkeeper James Askew to see a colour-co-ordinated mist. He made unwelcome physical contact with a Biggleswade player, pushing him to the ground. The referee consulted the assistant before showing the matching card. The clubs must have agreed that the match could go straight to penalties if drawn, and so, with all substitutes used (more of this later) the outfield substitute Joe Howard had to don the keeper’s jersey. The shootout itself was somewhat anticlimactic. Biggleswade scored their first, Little Oakley missed their first, but Biggleswade put two more good ones past the stand-in before the third home penalty was saved by George Rose (in blue). This meant that a successful fourth would win it for Biggleswade, and indeed that is what happened. How did we get to this point, you ask? Well, fortunately the rain eased off before kickoff and both teams looked positive about attacking and trying to win the game. Biggleswade winger B11 spent much of the first minute trying to turn his opposing full-back inside out, but the resulting corner came to nothing. Both teams were direct, with second balls and knockdowns of great importance, but occasionally each team would string together a sequence of one-touch passes on the break. Biggleswade’s opening goal after 25 minutes was a neat left-foot strike by Adam Hunt. The end-to-end exchanges continued. Who knows what was said in the dressing rooms at half-time but Little Oakley emerged with four substitutes in play. They could have equalised in the first minute after the restart. Then there was a comedy moment (except maybe for the club treasurer) when a ball was cleared into an adjacent garden only for the replacement ball to bounce over the same fence a few seconds later. The action continued with a disallowed Biggleswade goal – the home defence had stepped upfield just in time – and at this point both teams looked like they might score. Little Oakley had to press and this left space for Biggleswade on the break. The home side were maybe getting a bit more desperate now but it needed two interventions in quick succession from Rose to protect the lead. However, the equaliser came just after the hour, a textbook header by Jack Ladbrook from a training ground routine which involved all the players initially huddled together with the density of a neutron star. Conversation in the stands now turned to whether anyone knew whether it would be extra-time and/or penalties and/or a replay, but was curtailed when sub Jordi Papple rounded Rose to make the score 2-1. Rose soon made another excellent save to deny the home side their third. What a result that would have been for these Step 4 newcomers, but the denouement, as explained above was savage. Thanks to the home volunteers who were very welcoming. I left quickly for another tricky drive around the M25 with low sun and rain, but the roll of the die this morning had certainly given me an entertaining game to watch. As would be expected, the ground itself is in transition now between Step 5 and Step 4 requirements.
So What?
Cliché time : Biggleswade are in the proverbial hat for the next round, Little Oakley are not.
Pre-match Entertainment
Plans for a quayside walk thwarted but not by traffic this week. This time, a mighty deluge meaning that a good Duolingo session in the car was a more attractive option. Spot the differences between The North Sea and the Mediterranean
Pix
I’d left my Canon compact at home so I had to make do with my mobile phone this week … hosts in blue-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, a rare appearance for Red, lining up against Blue. The result is enough to demote Red in the colour league table, mainly because it is a small sample size. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 48% (107 from 221)
What Next?
Hopefully another ground ticked off on Bank Holiday Monday. No decision made as yet, will depend on weather. I’ve added Workington to my priority list for the season – I had forgotten that they have a temporary home with their rugby league counterparts for a season or two.

 

El Tel Tells It Like it Is as The Manager

Welcome to another MHR blogpost looking back at the world of football games before the age of the personal computer and games consoles. I have no recollection of how I came to acquire this pristine copy of The Manager, a game co-invented and endorsed by Terry Venables. It dates from 1990, when I would have been a youngish deputy headteacher with two young children and a tight domestic budget, and Terry himself was the manager of Spurs. Although my own copy, shortly to head to a charity shop, is clearly unused, it’s more likely that I picked it up from eBay around the turn of the century. Today it gets dusted off, literally, for this nostalgic blogpost.

The football-related aspects of Terry Venables’ career are inevitably linked to a large number of other commercial activities. These got plenty of coverage once again when he died in 2023 at the age of 80. I’ll concentrate on this particular board game here, but you can easily track down tales from his forays into the retail world, professional singing, co-writing novels and private members’ club ownership. Some of the novels were adapted for a TV series. What is striking about those articles is the sheer range of the activity. Most of the contributors to the stories are glowing and positive about his vision and business acumen, but he also ruffled some feathers. Similarly, his football and management career was varied and broadly successful, starting with promotions at Crystal Palace, a trophy or two at Barcelona, and then leading the England team at Wembley in Euro ’96.

So, this game. It is manufactured to a very high quality. It benefits from Barclays League branding and three photographs featuring Terry and one other person. Two of them would have been instantly recognisable as Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker. I don’t recognise the third, but it could well be Paul Riviere who is credited as the co-inventor of the game. I cannot shed any more light on him, but the company name on the rules booklet is Glenhope Management with an address in Exhibition Road in London. A quick couple of Google searches also suggests that a Polish Hearth Club (yes, hearth not health) and Restaurant has been located there since 1989, and it is also the registered address for at least one other management company.

The main features of the game seem to be collecting player cards to build a team, managing money, answering quiz questions and, to a certain extent, winning trophies. These two sentences stand out in the light of 21^st century norms and expectations …

“The Manager can be enjoyed and won by those who have no special interest in soccer and it may be found that women are frequently the winners.”

“The player with the most money is declared the winner.”

It’s clear from the rules that there is a huge financial penalty in the endgame for having an incomplete squad. The quiz questions come in three categories – soccer, entertainment and general knowledge. Inevitably some of them have now been superseded. Answering a question correctly was deemed to add a goal to the score you had achieved with a throw of the die. The dodecahedral (12-side) die was part of the player collection mechanism. Other aspects of the game would be common features in many of this type – land on a certain type of square, pick up the corresponding type of card, follow the instructions immediately. I’ve captured a few of those in the photos here. The FA Cup turns up along the way as a side hustle with possible financial reward once a player has reached a certain point on the board. The rules as originally printed have auctions of teams and players at various points, but there is an additional printed slip in my box saying that, “Terry suggests that playing The Manager is improved if players ignore the Auction Option completely.”

Although the first player to pass the Final Whistle space with a full team gets a ten million pound prize from the Banco de Venables, that person may not end up as the winner until a lot of arithmetic is completed. You might even need to calculate the 25% interest on your overdraft. To be fair, the rules booklet is well-written and unambiguous with a final warning that “… should players disagree … we are sorry, but these rules and the answers provided are final.”

If you’d like to pick up a copy of this game for yourself, there are plenty of copies around on eBay and such like with asking prices ranging from £5 to £20. Postage costs would add another several pounds – there’s a lot of weighty paper and cardboard in that box.

The 1990 release must have been successful enough as a product to be re-launched under the leading Waddingtons brand in 1996, with a redesign of the playing board too.

Image credit : sircollectalot.com

Thanks for your interest! Hopefully the photographs that follow will give you a more detailed sense of the gameplay. I have kept a pdf copy of the full rules if anyone needs them.

Terry's Invitation Letter

Links to previous football game posts on this blog:

Wembley

Soccerama

Soccerboss

Emlyn Hughes’ Team Tactix

Penalty!

Kevin Keegan’s Matchday