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Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 22 September 2012 at Shawe View
Result	Trafford 5 Spennymoor Town 3
Competition	FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round.  Trafford are in the step 4 Northern Premier League Division One North, and Spennymoor Town have stayed at step 5 having won the Northern League for three seasons in a row,
Hopping	I am here because “Trafford v Spennymoor Town” has 23 characters, and this was enough under the complex rules of the new discipline of threeandtwentyism to select this game for me from a list of … 23.  If this makes no sense, you are normal in all respects but you can catch up with previous blogposts for the explanation.  Go for a wee first – it may take you longer than you think and laughter on a full bladder can be problematic.
Pre-match preparation
Trafford are here after two away wins in earlier rounds, against Winsford United and Runcorn Town.  They are going well in the league too, scoring almost four a game and sitting second, conceding only one goal.  So are Spennymoor Town, who have an unbreached defence in the league and in three home FA Cup wins against Scarborough Athletic, West Allotment Celtic and South Shields. Something has to give!
This match in one sentence
More comfortable for Trafford than the scoreline suggests after an early three-goal burst created a mountain too big for Spennymoor to climb.
So what?
This is a knockout cup competition so Trafford are in the hat for the next round and £4500 better off and Spennymoor Town are not.
The drama unfolds
Pie, peas n’gravy at northern outposts is always a treat and today was no exception.  Then the significant matter of an unannounced minute of silence – but we all knew why given the news from Manchester this week of the murder of two police officers – observed impeccably before the announcer caught up.  The game started in bright sunshine on a pristine surface, and all the pre-match signs had been that Spennymoor Town and their voluble and voluminous travelling support were “up for this”.  Wayne Phillips was an early threat on the left as they took the game to the hosts. The art of the stepover Trafford, however, got themselves three goals after only 18 minutes to put the stunned visitors back in their place.  The first was Shelton Payne’s penalty after 8 minutes.  He himself had been tripped at the end of a run into the area – perhaps fortunate with the bounce of the ball along the way, but a well-placed spotkick as caught in my penpic.  1-0 Then Michael Oates got past Michael Laws and reached the byeline on the right before rolling it across the 6-yard box.  Paul Ashton would have had time to change his name to Michael for the purposes of symmetry but instead, he just tapped it in.  16 minutes gone.  2-0 As if this wasn’t unexpected enough, Payne smacked in a third just two minutes later and it really looked like game over.  3-0 My scene-setter clip therefore starts rather tediously with nothing whatsoever happening in the 23rd minute.  (23 has been the number of the week and it has changed my life.)  Trafford are in white. Fair play to Spennymoor who kept their heads up.  Phillips switched to the right so his crosses were curling the other way, so to speak.  Anthony Peacock met one of them first time and just missed.  There were two other near misses and the northeasterners sang, “We’re gonna win 4-3” in the time-honoured tradition.  If only they had taken just one of these chances. Encouragingly, full-back Chris Mason got to the ball just ahead of home keeper Tom Read and headed home in first-half stoppage time.  3-1 at half-time Spennymoor, as they should, came out strongly after the break and only took three minutes to close the gap.  The ball broke to full-back Kallum Griffiths in a central position on the edge of the area and his well-placed curling shot hit the net.  Read had been taking abuse all afternoon and now it stepped up.  3-2 Trafford’s response was immediate if a little fortunate.  Smart’s free kick deflected off the wall and left goalkeeper Robert Dean on the other side of the goal.  A loud voice from the visitor side told the referee exactly where he could shove his “Respect”, and all the youngsters here present laughed.  The ref was to be the scapegoat for the rest of the afternoon.  4-2 In the 64th minute, Trafford passed their way beautifully into a scoring position and Ashton got his second.  5-2 Spennymoor still kept playing.  I took a second clip after 82 minutes and caught them winning, and missing, a penalty kick.  Read made the save from Mark Davison.  He was entitled to look smug, and he did. This became even more significant a few minutes later when Spennymoor sub Andrew Stephenson belted in a quite splendid goal from about 25 metres.  5-3 There was time for Trafford to hit the post and in truth their win was pretty comfortable for all but a few minutes of the match.  With a tighter start and better finishing, Spennymoor might have made their hosts play with more nervousness.  Final score 5-3
The programme
Something random
This post is dedicated to PC Nicola Hughes and PC Fiona Bone of the Greater Manchester Police who lost their lives this week while carrying out their public duties.  Thoughts are with families and friends.
Hopping for Moorfields Update
Eight goals all in one game – that is a good day for the tally.
What Next?
Not a clue.  Look out for @GrahamYapp on Twitter to see what happens.