Lovely Day for Glovers

Bobby Moore's head (above) and foot (below) ...

 

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Sunday 19 May 2013 at Wembley Stadium
Result	Yeovil Town 2 Brentford 1
Competition	League One Playoff Final
Hopping	17th visit to the new Wembley, and the second time embedded in Yeovil supporters.  I saw them lose out to Blackpool back in May 2007.
Pre-match preparation
Brentford were third and Yeovil fourth in the regular league table.  Brentford’s end-of-season has been astonishing – they were a penalty away from automatic promotion in their final game, but missed it and conceded to their rivals Doncaster on the break.  They recovered to beat Swindon over two legs in the playoff semi-final while Yeovil were coming from behind to beat Sheffield United.
This match in one sentence
A second Yeovil goal just before the interval proved crucial as they were forced into a rearguard action for most of the second half.
So what?
Yeovil Town are up to the Championship next season for the first time in their history.
The drama unfolds
Yeovil took the lead with a superbly taken goal after only 7 minutes.  Maybe it was lucky that the rebound from Sam Foley’s shot fell kindly for Paddy Madden, but the curling finish with the outside of the boot was classy.  1-0 after 7 minutes By the midpoint of the half, and my scene-setter clip, Brentford had settled and it was an even game.  Yeovil are in green-and-white. The second and pivotal goal came at just the right time for Yeovil.  Foley contributed by beating his man and reaching the byeline on the left, but his cross was headed out for a corner.  This resulted in a headed goal at the far post for Sam Burn (credited to James Hayter at the time) whose header was cleared but not until after it had crossed the line having passed through a group of players in the six-yard box.  2-0 after 41 minutes and at half-time It was clear that Brentford would need to score early and Clayton Donaldson earned a corner from a strong run into the box.  Harlee Dean timed his run to perfection and headed home unchallenged to give Brentford hope with plenty of time left.  2-1 after 51 minutes Another Brentford corner caused chaos and Marek Stetch made a brilliant save on his way to the man-of-the-match award.  The momentum was with Brentford and Yeovil could not keep the ball.  They defended ever deeper, but Brentford also became more desperate.  Stech was not beaten again.  My final clip is the 6 minutes of stoppage time and includes some of the finest agricultural hoofing ever to grace the hallowed turf of the national stadium.  Yeovil hung on for a historic win.  Final score 2-1
The programme
Something random
The density of osmium is a staggering 22.6g/cm3 … is that random enough for you?
Hopping for Moorfields Update
Up to 191 goals for the season now, and the 13th three-goal game.
Mars Bar Watch 2013
All sorts of crazy choconomics in the WH Smith at South Mimms Services on the A1(M).  A standard 58g Mars Bar costs 85p (bad enough in itself) but they sit just below the Duo (2 x 42.5g = 85g of Marsy goodness) for 95p.  I bought a small 46g Galaxy bar for 85p just for a change and even the assistant pointed out that I was committing chococonsumerism craziness because the giant 125g bars of the same stuff were on sale at the till for £1.  I have no willpower so I declined but I probably won’t sleep now.  Good job I am not the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
What Next?
No idea!  I will try to fit in another match or two, but the main thing is that I will be asking Hopping for Moorfields sponsors to pay up fairly soon.  Please adjust your budgets accordingly!