Best Decision I Never Made

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 18 November 2017 at Giant Axe
Result	Lancaster City 4 Coalville Town 2
Competition	Northern Premier League (Step 3)
Hopstats	626 on the lifetime list and I am here because of the result of this Twitter poll.  Thanks to everyone who took part. Lancaster scored 51% of the vote to choose from the three unvisited Step 3 grounds on my shortlist for today. I
Context
13th plays 15th in the division, so mid-table respectability for both sides.  Lancaster are unbeaten at home.
In one sentence
Lancaster chose the classic good-time-to-take-the-lead, in the 45th minute, and they pulled away in the second half before a late second for Coalville.
So what?
Lancaster go up to 10th, Coalville drop a place to 16th.  The unbeaten home record is intact.
Match Report
Kevin Phillips of WBA is without doubt the classiest warmer-upperer I have ever seen, but I watched the Coalville pre-match first-time-shooting drill with some concern.  It took 30 shots (honestly) before someone hit the target.  To be fair, only one shot left the stadium. When the game started, the first item of note was a prompted minute of applause in memory of club legend Neil Marshall, who died a year ago from cancer having played nearly 500 times.  Lancaster almost scored as the minute ended but a timely tackle from Lee Torr saved the day. Another good clearance, this time by Kyle Dixon, was necessary as the home side started positively, and it was something of a surprise when Nat Watson received the ball on the right, cut inside and had a lot of space to score for Coalville with a powerful left-foot shot. Lancaster were unfazed and visiting keeper Matt Coton saved well from Hannu Tam.  The pressure built. After a set piece, defender Steve Williams stayed up in the box and his aerial presence led indirectly to an equaliser.  A first chance was cleared but the ball fell kindly for Craig Carney who scored with the outside of his right foot. Coalville came back with a training ground corner routine, the ball coming back to a player holding deep.  However, Lancaster took the lead just before the interval.  A good save by Coton delayed the goal, but a resulting knockdown gave Carney a chance to volley his second. At half-time, someone won the raffle prize, which was tickets for a boat trip to the Isle of Man.  Whether they were return tickets was not made clear, so good luck to the winner. The second half started in the same competitive fashion.  The “If only…” moment arrived on the hour.  Daniel Creaney’s header went across the keeper but went just wide, and the striker’s reaction confirmed that it had been a good chance.  Coalville then worked another training ground routine from a quickly taken freekick.  It must have been very frustrating for them when Lancaster scored their third on the break.  Ryan Winder timed his run from midfield to shoot unchallenged from a central position after a move down the right. The fourth came from a similar build-up and was a tap-in for substitute Charlie Bailey.  Finally, Coalville’s second was awarded by the assistant, who was in a decent position to confirm that a looping defensive header had crossed the line before being cleared. Good entertainment for the passing neutral.
Ground Pix
I rarely have a bad day when I cross the gravy-on-chips line heading North.  Everything about today was above average.  The welcome at the turnstiles, the food, the programme, the location and the ground itself.  It ticks a lot of boxes for the traditionalists.  It is less than five minutes’ walk from the station and multiple types of train are clearly visible during the game – West Coast main line, the DMUs of the Morecambe branch, and the occasional freight train.  I can see why Twitter sent me here – the hive mind knows.  All it needs now is a migrating bunch of spotted flycatchers or something and some people would never leave.
Match Pix
Lancaster City are known as the Dolly Blues.
Pre-Match Entertainment
A walk round Lancaster in the sunshine.  A particular highlight was a statue of Queen Victoria, mounted above frescoes of all the great scientists, engineers, leaders, writers and thinkers of the day.  Today she presided over a Christmas market.  For what it’s worth, I think Tony Pulis could have a new career as a Gladstone impersonator very soon if he loses the baseball cap.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Green beats Orange, as we have come to expect over the last 125 games. Results so far: Based on conventional 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, but also -1pt for a goal conceded (GC) and +5pts for a clean sheet (CS).  Colours ranked on a points per game (PPG) basis. For new readers the odd .5 was caused by a shocking half-and-half shirt and the .1 was due to a substitute goalkeeper in a different colour.  The Fire Cracker colour was confirmed with the help of the social media team at Dulux UK, and it deserves to be last, trust me.  All of this arises from a comment attributed to Petr Cech that orange is the best colour for a goalkeeper because it changes the behaviour of other players around the box. P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 9.0 4.0 1.0 4.0 9.0 3.0 19.0 2.111 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.500 Blue 30.1 12.0 6.0 12.1 47.0 10.0 45.0 1.495 Grey 41.5 20.0 9.0 12.5 68.5 11.0 55.5 1.337 Green 67.0 34.0 8.0 25.0 114.0 17.0 81.0 1.209 Orange 26.5 9.0 4.0 13.5 44.5 5.0 11.5 0.434 Purple 11.0 5.0 2.0 4.0 25.0 2.0 2.0 0.182 Yellow 27.0 7.0 6.0 14.0 57.0 5.0 -5.0 -0.185 Pink 14.0 4.0 4.0 6.0 29.0 1.0 -8.0 -0.571 Radioactive Bile 12.0 5.0 0.0 7.0 26.0 1.0 -6.0 -0.500 Black 5.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 14.0 0.0 -8.0 -1.600 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105 Fire Cracker 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -4.000
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  There will be a rugby union diversion in midweek as I take in Cambridge University’s traditional warm-up match against the Steele-Bodger XV before the Twickenham showdown with Oxford in early December.

COLDville v Sutton COLDfield - I Must Be Raven Mad

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 12 January 2013 at Owen Street
Result	Coalville Town 2 Sutton Coldfield Town 0
Competition	Northern Premier League Division 1 South (Step 4)
Hopping	503 on the lifetime list and I am here because the tweet from Coalville to Sutton Coldfield wishing them a safe journey qualified as the first “game on” message that I found in my timeline. First-world problems - planning groundhopping trips in January
Pre-match preparation
Both teams are on long unbeaten runs in the league – Coalville lead the division by a healthy margin (I saw their win at Brigg Town a few weeks ago) and Sutton Coldfield are challenging in third place.
This match in one sentence
It was sometimes dire and sometimes tense, but Coalville will look at the result, secured with two second-half goals, and regard it as another big step towards promotion to Step 3.
So what?
Coalville lead the league by 11 points and Sutton Coldfield remain third – they are still in a good position for a playoff place but they have played more games than all the others because of their artificial surface.
The drama unfolds
It was a tad chilly to say the least, and it was an uneventful first 15 minutes with both teams hyped and tense.  SCT’s striker Mark Danks was caught offside three times in rapid succession and a lino generously chose to ignore some directed f-word abuse. Lee Miveld got a yellow card for dumping him on the floor near the corner flag – though the incident was just outside my line of sight.  It was all rather tetchy. Set-pieces looked like the most likely method of scoring – this freekick was defended in the first instance… … however Miveld then played a neat diagonal ball to Lewis Dodd who crossed into the danger area but Ryan Robbins mistimed the shot.  It was the first real sniff of a goal with 17 minutes gone.  Danks continued to be a nuisance at the other end and he turned his defender and shot over, but Josh Hill in the Coalville defence generally looked pretty assured.  After half-an-hour I decided to remove my gloves and take a scene-setter clip.  Coalville are in black-and-white. Not much else happened of note before the break.  Coalville’s Callum Woodward had a decent shooting chance, SCT failed to capitalise on the home keeper getting caught out of position.  I took another clip after 43 minutes. Some push-and-shove led to a booking for SCT’s Lee Parsons – could have been worse for someone as hands were raised on both sides – but Coalville messed up the freekick and it was “necessary” for Danny Jeno to flatten Danks on the break.  The third clip is the resulting set piece.  All rather disappointing so far.  0-0 at half-time Coalville started the second half brightly and Hill, upfield for a set piece, was unlucky with a volley that shaved the post.  I’d moved around behind the goal and with my hands still warm from the halftime coffee I took another clip just as Coalville (Cameron Stuart I think) put the ball into orbit.  Nevertheless, the home side were looking more effective and the away side dangerous on the break – a classical home-and-away situation was developing.  SCT’s Jamie Sheldon found himself in acres of space on one such break but the ball landed, probably covered in ice from altitude, on the embankment (which may well be an old mining spoil heap, I am guessing). My fingers held together long enough to take this clip of a Coalville freekick after 72 minutes – they were getting closer! The stalemate was finally broken in the closing minutes and Coalville fans will enjoy this clip.  The cross from the left was skied and mishit but Parsons’ header fell at the feet of Woodward.  He crossed and the first shot was cleared brilliantly off the line, but it is a great volleyed finish by Robbins to open the scoring.  1-0 after 81 minutes In stoppage time, two Coalville substitutes combined and Ash Way’s right-wing cross gave David Leigh an unmissable header at the far post.  2-0 in stoppage time They could even have had a third, as Way’s thunderbolt shot was well-saved by the Sutton keeper Lee Evans.  That would have hurt.  This really is a very, very good result for Coalville and that will hurt too.  Final score 2-0
The programme
Hopping for Moorfields Update
135 goals in 40 games at an average of 3.375, within the limits predicted at the start of the season.  I am still looking for sponsors – you won’t have to pay up until June!
Mars Bar Watch 2013
The Coalville Town Mars Bar moves into top position in the value-for-money table as an undamaged 58g standard bar was provided in perfect condition for a mere 50p, just over half of the price of this year’s 95p shocker at M1 Toddington Services Northbound.  The low ambient temperatures led to a small amount of chocolate loss due to brittle fracture at the incision phase but this was well within acceptable limits.
What Next?
Weather forecasts suggest that there is little chance of a midweek game but I am hoping to get to an FA Vase tie next Saturday.