It's Raining Pens

No programme (just a teamsheet) so here's the food menu instead - well above average!

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Wednesday 22 August 2018 at Hayden Road
Result	Rushden & Higham Utd 6 Cogenhoe United 1
Competition	United Counties League Knockout Cup Preliminary Round
Hopstats	Ground 652, and this is a pragmatic midweek visit to the only one of my priority grounds hosting a game tonight.  Rushden & Higham United are landlords to AFC Rushden & Diamonds of Step 3, and I choose landlords rather than tenants if I possibly can for my visit.
Context
Step 6 plays Step 5 and the visitors will start as favourites.  However, hard to know in advance whether sides will be full strength.  League Cup competitions vary – pre-match consensus was that this would go straight to ET and pens if level after 90 minutes.
In one sentence
Surprisingly straightforward win for the home side after the visitors missed their third-minute penalty (one of four spot-kicks awarded tonight).
So what?
Rushden & Higham will visit Eynesbury Rovers in the next round.
Match Report
This was a game with several potential hinge points, and the first came as early as the 3rd minute.  A penalty was awarded to Cogenhoe for handball, but Ryan Dove’s spotkick was pushed away by Kyle Swailes.  Cogenhoe were applying the early pressure but Dave Townsend was able to break the defensive line on the break to score the opening goal.  It was a tidy left-foot finish whilst holding off a defender.  Jory Mann, full of running for most of the evening, added a second from the penalty spot.  He had been tripped at the byeline whilst heading for goal.  Untidy defending again and now a two-goal deficit. Cogenhoe were back in the game from the third penalty of the night.  The ref judged there had been a trip (I think) and Dove made no mistake this time.  However, here’s a second possible hinge point as within a minute Mann was sticking away his second penalty of the four awarded so far.  He had again been brought down, this time at edge of the area, and the keeper Callum Patching escaped with a yellow card.  Fair enough, but the two-goal lead now restored. I think Rushden and Higham were surprising themselves with the half-time score, which was 4-1 due to a horrible defensive miskick falling straight to Mann who duly completed his first-half hat-trick. It would be essential for Cogenhoe to score first after the break, but the home side were holding out easily enough until we reached 65 minutes or so.  As the visitors pressed forward, there was even more space at the back, but the goal to make it 5-1 was another gift.  Patching’s clearance rebounded off Jamie Russell and rolled gently into the net.  Game over.  It remained entertainingly end-to-end and the final goal came very late on from substitute Callum Dench who seized on a short backpass and kept enough composure to score under challenge.  A final 6-1 scoreline that would not have been predicted by anyone, even #keepertopcolourstats, and great entertainment for the passing neutral.
Pix
Home side in orange-and-black.  Main stand not in use.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
New this season – a pre-match prediction based only on keeper top colours as a preliminary test of the data.  Proper statistical significance test to follow in due course. Tonight Radioactive Bile faces up to Grey and takes a big win but neither has a clean sheet.  Grey holds position but Bile jumps above Yellow. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? No. Not even close. % of correct predictions so far 75% (6 from 8) 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.  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.  It may not be statistically significant as yet, but football coverage ignores this point as a matter of routine. P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 10.0 5.0 1.0 4.0 11.0 3.0 20.0 2.000 Blue 38.1 16.0 7.0 15.1 54.0 14.0 71.0 1.864 Grey 47.5 22.0 10.0 15.5 79.5 13.0 61.5 1.295 Green 80.0 40.0 10.0 30.0 135.0 20.0 95.0 1.188 Fire Cracker 3.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 6.0 1.0 2.0 0.667 Maroon 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 9.0 1.0 3.0 0.600 Purple 16.0 7.0 3.0 6.0 36.0 4.0 8.0 0.500 Orange 34.5 11.0 7.0 16.5 59.5 6.0 10.5 0.304 Radioactive Bile 18.0 8.0 0.0 10.0 37.0 2.0 -3.0 -0.167 Yellow 31.0 8.0 7.0 16.0 65.0 5.0 -9.0 -0.290 Pink 16.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 31.0 1.0 -6.0 -0.375 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
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  Five more Step 3 grounds to go, but I am now doing other things for a few days so my next hop is likely to be Saturday 1 September.  Alvechurch, Bamber Bridge and South Shields are all possibilities for that day but it also depends on the FA Cup draw because I want to get the five grounds done by the end of September, before Tottenham move into their new place.

A Sunday Double for this -borough Surveyor

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Sunday 29 July 2018 1) Victoria Mill Ground 2) Stilton Pavilion (first game here)
Result	1) Wellingborough Whitworth 0 Cogenhoe United 3 (Dore, Dove 2.  0-2 at HT) 2) Stilton United 4 Cardea 2 (West 3, McManus – Dandrilli, Yeoman. 1-0 at HT)
Competition	1) United Counties League Premier Division (Step 5) 2) Peterborough & District FL Div 2 (Step 9)
Hopstats	Venues 645 and 646 on the lifetime list to open my season for 2018-19.
Context
I’d spent Saturday as a parent-spectator at the British Firefighter Challenge event in Bury St Edmunds (well done Matt Yapp, well done Hertfordshire) so I was late joining this organised regional hop event.  Well done again to the organisers Groundhop UK, and to these two host clubs who’d both made a real effort.  Both sporting events of my weekend don't happen by chance and a huge amount of volunteering is required.  They all deserve our support.
Each game in one sentence
Cogenhoe scored first and had the greater goal threat, and in the end it was a comfortable away win. It was not as comfortable for Stilton, who were pegged back to level from two-nil before sealing a home win.
So what?
I refuse to acknowledge league tables this early – this was the first league game of the season for all four teams.
Match Report 1
In blustery conditions, Cogenhoe took the lead as a great curling pass from the right by Ryan Dove was hit first time by Montel Dore.  They were denied a second by a goal-line clearance by Jamie Black.  It was almost half-time before Whitworth had their first really clear chance.  The game’s hinge point was on 43 minutes, as a slick move and a sustained period of pressure ended with a tap-in for Dove.  Whitworth’s second half task had just become a lot harder.  The conditions continued to be difficult and the only goal of the second half was a penalty, awarded by the assistant ref, which Dove tucked away in the bottom left corner for his second goal of the day. No heads dropped as Whitworth went looking for a consolation goal but United were able to protect their clean sheet for their grey-clad keeper (see below).
Pix from Whitworth
Match Report 2
The windy conditions were still an issue at the Stilton Pavilion.  The newly-laid pitch has also suffered greatly in recent weather conditions and there were also some bizarre bounces for players to cope with.  It took a while for the teams to settle and adjust.  A superb one-handed save by bright green home keeper Steve Shaw was soon followed by the opening goal.  A great tackle on halfway broke up a Cardea attack, and Stilton exploited the space down the right to set up an easy finish for Kylial King.  King added his second shortly after half-time and it seemed that Stilton were on a (cheese) roll.  (Sorry, had to be done.) Cardea had other ideas.  Mike Dandrilli’s shot from distance came down off the bar, and I was in a good position to confirm that it did not go in.  No VAR in the Peterborough & District, tyvm.  However, Dandrilli bundled in the rebound to cut the deficit.  On the hour, the game was level as Aaron Yeoman’s speculative shot bounced awkwardly in front of Shaw.  No clean sheets for either keeper today. The game’s hinge point came after 63 minutes.  Cardea’s parity had lasted only three minutes before Lewis McManus restored the home side’s lead, and then West completed his hat-trick with a hooked volley at the near post which drew gasps of admiration from the assembled masses.  No comeback this time and Stilton United’s return to their home village begins with a win.  Maybe a rich vein of form will follow.  (Sorry/not sorry).
Pix from Stilton
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
New this season – a pre-match prediction based only on keeper top colours as a preliminary test of the data.  Proper statistical significance test to follow in due course, when I've found one! In match 1, Grey beats conventional Green and has a clean sheet.  In match 2, fluorescent Green beats something bright that is not yellow, not green and therefore must be Radioactive Bile, a colour well-established among keepers but not yet recognised by Dulux. Clean Sheet for the man in grey - Stuart Lutter (Cogenhoe U) Pre-match Predictions based on Keeper Top Colour Stats: Prediction 1: Cogenhoe United Win Was the prediction correct? YES Prediction 2: Stilton United Win Was the prediction correct? YES % of correct predictions so far 100% (2 from 2) 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.  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.  It may not be statistically significant as yet, but all football coverage ignores this point as a matter of routine.  It’s the variance that we love, really. Keeper Top Table based on 147 games: P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 10.0 5.0 1.0 4.0 11.0 3.0 20.0 2.000 Blue 38.1 16.0 7.0 15.1 54.0 14.0 71.0 1.864 Grey 46.5 22.0 10.0 14.5 73.5 13.0 67.5 1.452 Green 76.0 37.0 10.0 29.0 128.0 19.0 88.0 1.158 Purple 14.0 6.0 3.0 5.0 31.0 4.0 10.0 0.714 Fire Cracker 3.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 6.0 1.0 2.0 0.667 Maroon 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 9.0 1.0 3.0 0.600 Orange 32.5 11.0 7.0 14.5 51.5 6.0 18.5 0.569 Radioactive Bile 16.0 7.0 0.0 9.0 34.0 2.0 -3.0 -0.188 Yellow 31.0 8.0 7.0 16.0 65.0 5.0 -9.0 -0.290 Pink 15.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 30.0 1.0 -8.0 -0.533 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
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  Lots of Step 5 action all over the country next Saturday for me to choose from.