Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Thursday 26 December 2013 at High Road
Result	Chipstead 0 Leatherhead 3
Competition	Isthmian League Division One South (Step 4)
Hopping	Number 528 on the lifetime list, the second half of a Boxing Day double hop, and I am here for geographical reasons – proximity to my earlier game in East Grinstead.
Pre-match preparation
Not much, as most of the time has been spent trying to find a workable “double hop”, with many games called off.  League table positions would suggest an away win – the home and away sides are flirting with relegation and promotion battles respectively.  Leatherhead will be in borrowed kit as a result of a severe flooding of their home ground and clubhouse.
This match in one sentence
A deserved win for the away side, who were stronger and more clinical in their finishing.
So what?
Leatherhead go second in pursuit of Peacehaven and Telscombe, Chipstead stay 21st and will look over their shoulders at Three Bridges with games in hand.
The drama unfolds
My latest football investment, a “golden goal” ticket for the 21st minute, soon became worthless as Leatherhead took the early lead.  It was a straightforward header for centre-back Tom Parkinson, up for a set piece.  1-0 after 8 mins My scene-setter clip is in the last rays of daylight after about 15 mins.  Leatherhead are in the old borrowed blue kit, but they have a new keeper (Tom Wellham) in red. Shortly after this, Chipstead almost equalised when Carlton Murray-Price just failed to connect with Dan Moody’s low driven cross.  The home side were never out of it, but Leatherhead looked more likely to score.  After half an hour, striker Tom Bradbrook jumped with home keeper Rhys Marshall.  The ball bounced clear for Bradbrook but he shot over the empty net.  I took another clip after 38 minutes, thinking that Leatherhead were dangerous from set pieces, and they went close again with this one. Bradbrook then missed a chance to set up an easy chance for a team-mate just before the interval, but he headed in anyway from the resulting corner sent in by Darren Smith.  0-2 after 42 mins and at half-time Chipstead continued to create and miss a number of half-chances, including a free-kick routine, but Bradbrook rubbed it in with his second of the afternoon, staying on his feet to round the keeper.  0-3 after 76 mins Leatherhead held on for a good away win without further alarm.  Final score 0-3
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Safe hands and a nice red top (see below)
Huddle Stats
Leatherhead huddled and won – Chipstead didn’t huddle and lost, which is against this season’s huddling form book. 2013-14 Summary so far: P W D L GF GA Pts Pts per Game Non-Huddlers 19 8 3 8 27 27 27 1.42 Huddlers 12 4 4 4 9 9 16 1.33 Twin Huddlers 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 1.00
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Chipstead’s keeper wore grey and Leatherhead’s wore red (first of the season) so the result sends red flying to the top of the table. 2013-14 Summary so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet P W D L GA (-1 each) CS (5 each) Pts Pts per Game Red 1 1 0 0 0 1 8 8.00 Grey 9 5 2 2 9 4 28 3.11 Yellow 3 1 1 1 4 1 5 1.67 Green 6 2 0 4 8 1 3 0.50 Blue 2 0 1 1 2 0 -1 -0.50 Orange 3 1 1 1 6 0 -2 -0.67 Pink 5 1 3 1 10 0 -4 -0.80 Radioactive Bile 3 1 0 2 6 0 -3 -1.00
Mars Bar Watch 2013 - Postscript
A shocking development while I have been out of circulation – the mass of a standard Mars Bar has decreased to 51g.  This is a loss of around 12% (as a % change from the original 58g).  That news is bad enough, but pales into insignificance compared with the fact that Chipstead has proved, five days before the end of the year, to be the home of the most expensive standard Mars Bar of the calendar year, priced at a whopping £1.00. If only I had my time (and my teeth) all over again, I’d leave them alone, I tell you.  This is also the first time that I have been offered a choice of coffee brands at a non-league ground.  For the record, I chose the Nescafé rather than the Douwe Egbert.  Surrey, eh?
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!