A Positive Result with a Splendid Pair of Draws

Missed the hard copy at Leigh but got the free pdf download

Hopperational Details
Dates & Venues	24 October 2026 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 25 October 2026 at Brewdog Stadium, St Helens 25 October 2026 at Leigh Sports Village
Results	Tottenham Hotspur Women 1 Arsenal Women 2 Liverpool Women 2 London City Lionesses 2 Manchester Utd Women 1 Manchester City Women 1
Competition	Women’s Super League
Hopstats	Only the Liverpool game gives me a new tick, and it goes on to the lifetime list at position 823.
Context
The fixture spread allowed me to get to three WSL fixtures this weekend, hoping that these games played inside larger stadia would be at least partially protected from the gusty wind and stormy weather.
Match Reports
These games have been well documented elsewhere with highlights readily available so I will comment rather than report. Tottenham have had a mixed start to the season. They started well with some new signings making an impact, but then they suffered thumping defeats by London City Lionesses and Chelsea. I saw the latter game (not blogged) and they collapsed in the later stages after a good first half. This performance was a good response. They took the lead, and although Arsenal’s equaliser was a classy goal from Georgia Stanway, it took a controversial penalty for handball to decide the results. Spurs have a safe and solid WSL side but only the cup competitions offer the outside chance of silverware, I think. Arsenal’s shaky start has raised the prospect of a managerial change soon but I’m not hearing Arsenal fans calling for that in large numbers yet. They are by far the best supported of the WSL teams at the moment. Their squad depth is impressive and keeping everyone happy must be a management issue. To this non-coach, it just feels like the endless recycling could be sacrificed in favour of a bit more risk-taking against lesser opposition. They look this season like a side that is more concerned about pass stats than xG. I suspect that they are going to give some unfortunate side a real thumping fairly soon. I will see them again later this week at Meadow Park for a Champions League qualifier against Benfica. Liverpool were good value for their point against their big-spend opponents from London. They had taken the lead with an excellent penalty, but both London goals were gifts. England’s reserve keeper Khiara Keating dithered over a clearance and recent Lioness debutant Freya Godfrey nipped in for a tap-in, and the other was as a result of a defensive slip too. Liverpool pressed and pressed for much of the second half and the very late own goal that got them a point was well deserved. The two sides served up a good watchable game in very difficult conditions as Storm Boelo turned up to interfere. Beata Olson's excellent penalty gives Liverpool the lead London City Lionesses have built a squad that keeps players of the calibre of former England keeper Mary Earps on the bench. The marquee signing was Alexia Putellas, and occasionally we saw flashes of her brilliant vision and composure. They are undoubtedly going to challenge the recent dominance of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City. I saw them beat Manchester United on the opening day of the season and they were fast, fluid and direct. Today they looked far less impressive and didn’t create a goal from their own efforts, albeit in challenging conditions. However, my expectation is that they will improve on last season’s mid-table finish and overtake Spurs in the process. Manchester United’s new manager Eva Olid and her squad look to be mutually adjusting to each other. This was so much better than the opening-day defeat and their late equaliser was deserved. They have a high energy midfield including England’s Ella Toone and Jess Park, but other than being in the right place for the late equaliser, Elisabeth Terland looked isolated up front. They are missing Melvine Malard, now at Chelsea. Manchester City are, of course, defending champions. The battle between United’s Maya Le Tissier and Bunny Shaw was interesting to watch. The City striker took her goal well but it was also her weak defensive header that led to the equaliser. She showed a lot of petulance and frustration today. Both Manchester teams have some direct runners, not afraid to take people on, which made a nice contrast to the possession play seen elsewhere this weekend. I’d single out City’s Lauren Hemp as arguably England’s best player at the moment. Maybe she is more predictable than Chelsea’s Lauren James, but she is consistent and effective. In the meantime, Chelsea were picking up another win to go to the top of the table. It is hard to see this season’s silverware going anywhere other than among the teams mentioned here. The WSL is a good product at the moment though I worry that the rich-poor divide is just going to turn it into a predictable league decided by a handful of games between the top four over the course of a full season. Ticket prices are very reasonable and availability is good. For all three games this weekend, the result was in doubt until the end, and given the challenging conditions the quality was impressive. With only three places available for European competition next season, there is going to be at least one disgruntled wealthy owner come next May.
So What?
The WSL table this morning has Chelsea ahead of Manchester City on goal difference, and London City Lionesses in third, three points behind. Manchester United are up to fourth, Tottenham hold fifth on the strength of the earlier form, and Arsenal are up to sixth. The sixth-to-first gap is already ten points, though. Liverpool are tenth.
Pix
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with 13700 in attendance Liverpool v London City : (Liverpool in red, of course)   Manchester United v Manchester City : (United in red of course)
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. This weekend: Green (Spurs) loses to Pink (Arsenal) Green (Liverpool) draws with Black (London City) Yellow (United) draws with Green (City) Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Predictions: Home, Home and Away in that order Was the prediction correct? No, No and No !! % of correct predictions so far 48% (114 from 237)
What Next?
Arsenal v Benfica in the Women’s Champions League, which I will add to #keepertopcolourstats but not provide a full blogpost. After that, no firm plans as yet.

Premier Table Soccer (TAF 424)

As ever, thanks for your interest in this latest nostalgia post on football board games – as it turns out, it’s the 600^th post on the Modus Hopper Random blog. MHR is a blog which has never taken itself too seriously, and has now stuttered its way through a unique mixture of serious comments, tongue-in-cheek observations, random and randomish decision-making  and records of some big sporting moments. You are never far away from a pun, and of course there has been the widely-ignored #keepertopcolourstats in the most recent seasons. The blog has a small but loyal readership and it may well be around for a few more years. If you’ve been with me from the start, you might not appreciate being reminded that we go back to September 2010. Sixteen years of blurb. Time flies when you are having fun. But now ... Premier Table Soccer.

My copy of Premier Table Soccer 2000 comes from WP Sports Games of Guernsey, is dated 1998, and is endorsed by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA). The inventor credit is given to Tom Waterman, and it is clear that a lot of thought and planning went into this as a competitor for Subbuteo. I’m not sure, judging from the persistence of the latter in social media, that it quite succeeded in that, but it is an excellent product nonetheless.

I first came across this game in my own childhood as “TAF 424”, the name coming from the formation that was all the rage at the time. There are undoubted similarities to Subbuteo. Firstly, the green baize cloth pitch always behaved worse than 1975 Baseball Ground, Derby if you didn’t have it pinned on a baseboard. Secondly, the game hinges on a pass-and-move model. However, the comparison is only true up to a point. This product included a training video. There is a lot going on in the lengthy rule book – some would say a lot of scope for disputes – but there is no doubt that if played within the rules at a reasonable pace this would be a very satisfying player experience. I suspect that families devised their own local rules in the end.

In Subbuteo, lifting the ball would always be an issue – remember the springy throwers and the green plastic ramps for corners? – whereas PTS allowed a certain type of flicking upwards. It’s also much more realistic than Waddington’s Table Soccer of the same era, which amounted to a specialised form of tiddleywinks.

Anyway, back to my set, shortly heading to my grandson for Christmas (don’t tell him!). It’s beautifully produced to a high standard. I seem to have acquired an England-ish vs Brazil-ish setup, with a couple of black faces on the former as Anderson, Regis and Cunningham had opened that door of opportunity by this time.

The game mechanics involve pushing the ball with the flat face on the base in order to pass along the ground, or flicking it with the sloping face to get height. The orientation of the player base is as important as the position, allowing you to play a wall pass (or one-two if you like) to get the ball around an opponent. There is one six-sided die which determines whether an attempted tackle is successful. This is not a game where you could open the box and be playing against your little brother or sister in ten minutes - there's a lot of detail to work through in the explanatory booklet, and of course the video too.

The game pre-dates search engine optimisation so there is a bit more to be found if you search on the original TAF424 name. It was possible to get individual players made, presumably as a special order, and there are some images around of a PTS version of Wales’ Terry Hennessey complete with combover hairstyle.

I’ve included a full set of images of the rule book at the end of the post.

Thanks for your interest in this series, there will be a few more to come during the season.

Links to previous football game posts on this blog:

Wembley

Soccerama

Soccerboss

Emlyn Hughes’ Team Tactix

Penalty!

Kevin Keegan’s Matchday

The Manager (Terry Venables)

Roy of the Rovers

League Championship

Rule book images :

 

 

 

 

 

Leighton Fall at the Newmarket Hurdle

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 26 September 2026 at The NYO Stadium
Result	Newmarket Town 2 Leighton Town 1
Competition	FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Hopstats	Ground number 822 on my lifetime list. I am here non-randomly as it is my closest unvisited Step 4 ground and I’d needed to do some get-ahead lesson planning for the day job before leaving Chateau Yapp!
Context
Newmarket Town (The Jockeys) play at Step 4 in the Isthmian League Division One North. They arrive at this fixture following earlier wins at Haringey Borough (on penalties) and 5-2 at home to Gorleston in the previous two rounds. Leighton Town are now in Step 3 Southern Premier Central following their promotion at the end of last season. They enter the FA Trophy at this stage.
Match Report
The Jockeys turned the game around in the second half and rode their luck in the final few minutes for a memorable win. Leighton had already had one nervy moment early on when their keeper Carlos Simeon slipped on the artificial surface, but they took the lead in the 11th minute. Tyler Winters scored with a close range header after a free kick. Although the home side improved after that, the next clear chance also fell to the visitors. Kyal Williams executed a sharp turn and shot just wide. Both teams fluffed chances and half chances before the interval. If two half chances equal one chance in the xG calculations, then the teams were comparable. I wrote in my notes that the game was not over but it would be if Newmarket don’t become more clinical in their finishing. The home side did indeed make a flying start to the second half. The first time the ball hit the back of the net, scored from a rebound off Simeon, the assistant’s flag signalled offside. However, within a minute the ball was crossed in, headed on to the bar, and the rebound poked in by Elliott Reeves to bring the scores level. I found out later that this was his debut for the club. Just before the hour, a neat one-two created a good chance for Leighton, but Newmarket countered and a good pass from Ben Nolan released Reeves who coolly produced a sidefoot finish for his second. The Leighton keeper Simeon fell awkwardly after an aerial challenge and there was a lengthy stoppage before to general spectator bemusement he rejected both stretcher and crutches and opted to carry on. He showed discomfort from booted clearances thereafter but got no sympathy from the home supporters. With a nominal 83 minutes on the clock but lots of time to be added, Newmarket lived dangerously by presenting substitute Sydney Ibie with a shooting chance. They somewhat curiously left themselves very exposed particularly down their left flank, but Leighton did not exploit the space. The closing minutes included lots of action in the home penalty area as Leighton sent crosses in with increasing desperation. Home keeper James Young needed to make a good save, the clock showing 94 minutes now. It went on to complete its cycle and stop at 0.00, but Young made two more good catches under pressure. Ibie and home sub Emmanuel Osei-Owusu needed to be separated from pushing and shoving each other as a diversion, but Newmarket held on for the win.
So What?
Cliché time : Newmarket are in the hat for the next round and Leighton are not etc etc as per usual.
Pix
Newmarket in yellow and blue. The only advice that I would give to other hoppers is that some areas of the club car park are currently very pitted, with temporary repairs in place. Be careful when parking and leaving, especially if dark. Comfortable main stand, friendly volunteers, good 3G surface for “game on” hops in the winter months. Best pre-match music of the season, was almost sorry when it was time for kickoff. I watched from the back of the main stand.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today, Green beat Orange as expected. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 48% (112 from 231)
What Next?
Big game in the WSL (Sunday 27th) – Chelsea Women v Arsenal Women.

One-Nil Desperandum

 

Hopperational Details
Dates & Venues	Tue 22 & Wed 23 September 2026 at Boreham Wood FC & AFC Wimbledon FC respectively
Results	Arsenal 1 HB Køge 0 Chelsea 1 Austria Wien 0
Competition	Women’s Champions League Group Stage
Hopstats	Neither are new grounds on my lifetime list. My fifth and third visits respectively.
Context
First games of the group stage for both teams. England’s third entrant, Manchester City, drew 2-2 away at Bayern Munich in the same competition. Chelsea got here through a qualification route in which they comfortably saw off Real Sociedad
Match Reports
Both games have been well covered already including live TV coverage so I am restricting myself to headlines and comment. Arsenal needed a stoppage time penalty from substitute Mariona Caldentey to get this win. The Danish team had defended valiantly as Arsenal, not for the first time this season, struggled to turn their dominance into goals. Chelsea won with an early goal from Wieke Kaptein, and a very satisfying in-off-the-bar thunderbolt it was too. However, similarity in scoreline does not really tell the whole story. Both sides had attempted to rest a number of key players ahead of their league showdown this coming weekend.   Arsenal’s style is predominantly patient, possession-controlling with repeated recycling of the ball across the back line and midfield. Their excellent support, much the best numerically of any in the women’s game at the moment, has learned to be patient. The strength in depth of their squad is bound to mean that they will be challenging for honours again this season. Keeping all those internationals and future internationals happy is going to be more of a problem. Meadow Park had just under 2000 in attendance. A lot of teams will be setting up defensively against them and maybe there is a debate to be had about playing more of a percentage game and getting the ball into danger areas quicker. I don’t by any means study football tactics and stats in detail, so I don’t have a strong view. All I can say is that from the point of view of the passing neutral, this was compelling entertainment with a late dramatic twist. Chelsea are equally capable of that same style but on this occasion they were often more direct, using Melvine Malard as a back-to-the-goal target. Kaptein’s goal was well executed, but then the evening got more and more tense. Chelsea lost Keira Walsh to injury, and the game was probably more open than they would have wanted. Austria Wien showed some attacking ambition and they had some really clear chances. The final whistle was something of a relief for the home side and just under 1000 supporters. There were just a few rumblings of discontent near the end, directed at the management. Again, the sheer depth of their squad means that Chelsea will be up there in the trophy hunt. The ground felt a lot more empty though the core support kept up a decent string of songs occasionally orchestrated by Basil the well-known superfan. Fair play to him. Again, a good watch for the neutral with the result right in doubt to the very end. I suspect Chelsea fans are more frustrated than Arsenal’s this morning. So, both teams have three points from a group stage game, with some rested players and some minutes for squad players. Job done. Enough positives to take. Some of the other French and Spanish sides were piling up goals elsewhere so there are much, much sterner tests ahead. The next one is on Sunday at Stamford Bridge. The result of that game might arguably already decide one of the automatic Champions League spots for next season.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Meadow Park – Grey beats Green, with a clean sheet. Wimbledon – Green beats Orange, with a clean sheet. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win & Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes & Yes % of correct predictions so far 48% (111 from 230)
What Next?
Something (as yet undecided) on Saturday before the aforementioned WSL clash between Chelsea & Arsenal women on Sunday. I will certainly try to get to some more midweek women's euro games if work commitments allow. Stamford Bridge is to host the "home" games for Shaktar Donetsk of Ukraine in the weeks and months ahead if anyone is looking for a novel way to tick off that ground in their 92!