Corby Press On in the Trophy

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 6th September 2025 at the Trade Tyres Community Stadium, Brownsfield Road.
Result	Lichfield City 1 Corby Town 2
Competition	FA Trophy First Round Qualifying
Hopstats	Ground #806 and I am here for pragmatic travelling reasons today. I was heading further north until the M1 decided against it.
Context
These two teams are both going well in the Midland Division of the Northern Premier League – 6th vs 2nd. Even though the difference is four places, at this stage of the season that is just one point. However, it’s hard to know how high each club views the FA Trophy as a priority. There is a novelty value for Lichfield – this is their first Trophy game.
Match Report
You can always get a sense on arrival at a ground as to whether a club is “on the up” or in decline. Lichfield City are clearly in the first category. They are in their first season at Step 4 having achieved promotion from the Midland Football League last season. It’s a neat and tidy ground, next to a train line, with very good spectator facilities and an artificial surface, but get there very early if you want an onsite parking space! The game overall was rather a disappointment, punctuated by frequent infringements. Corby took a lead in their first real attack when a looping deflection gave the home keeper no chance, just as I’d published the #keepertopcolourstats prediction of a home win. The teams then largely cancelled each other out and I got distracted by the retro design of the scruffy football itself. Some good defensive shadowing delayed a Lichfield shot before the rebound was netted but correctly disallowed for offside. That was the nearest to an equaliser in that first half. They came close again on 55 minutes with a shot that just passed the post but arguably Corby had even better chances from corners, one of which needed a last-ditch clearance near the goalline. Lichfield were struggling to create really clear openings and it was Corby who should have doubled their lead after 76 minutes, but the attacker stumbled for some reason. However, with ten minutes to go they did score again, and it was a good job too because Lichfield got a late consolation goal from the penalty spot with very little time left. I guess Corby will be happy with a cup win on the road, and Lichfield will be disappointed not to have done themselves justice in the attacking third.
So What?
Cliché alert : Corby go into the hat for the next round and Lichfield can concentrate on the league.
Pix
Lichfield in blue.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today Pink takes on Yellow, and the away win is enough to shift Yellow off the bottom of the colour table simply because of the number of games seen. The table also includes the result from an unblogged game last night as I was at Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea 2 Manchester City 1 in the Womens’ Super League. Grey beat Pink. 337 games altogether now in the sample. The photo shows the moment that Yellow's clean sheet was denied by Lichfield's consolation penalty. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win (Corrected from original posting) Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 48% (92 from 192)
What Next?
No idea. Possibly a Step 4 game on Saturday 13th September if I can sneak one in around other family commitments that weekend (which also mean I can’t make the organised West Wales Hop).

 

Steelmen at the Next Stratos-Ferric Level

It’s an online programme.  Here’s the link and a picture of the front cover on my PC screen.  Have mixed feelings about this.  Completely understand why this is happening, but printing it out for the collection will be a pain.

http://www.alvechurchfc.club/news/match-day-programme-corby-town-2349497.html

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 22 September 2018 at Lye Meadow
Result	Alvechurch 1 Corby Town 4
Competition	FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round.  Two Southern League teams – Step 3 (Premier Central) at home to Step 4 (Division One Central.)
Hopstats	656 on the lifetime list.  Here because this is the penultimate ground that I need to visit for Step 3.  A kind FA Cup draw had given me the chance to see Alvechurch at home today.
Context
Alvechurch beat neighbours Bromsgrove Sporting 4-3 and then won 1-0 at Stratford Town in the previous rounds, and are mid-table in the league.  Corby Town beat Dunstable Town 4-0 away after a 3-3 draw, and then Hertford Town 2-0.  They are also unbeaten in their league.
In one sentence
Two well-taken goals early in the second half killed off any Alvechurch hope of a comeback.
So what?
Corby Town take the £9000 prize money for the round and are of course in the draw for the next round.
Match Report
A Corby contingent were already in good voice in the bar as I arrived, and they remained so as home keeper Paul Evans gifted them the lead.  The scorer was Joel Carta.  At the other end, counterpart keeper Dan George also had a couple of dodgy moments with clearances and chargedowns, but he got away with them. This was an open game.  Corby played a high defensive line and occasionally found themselves chasing attackers who had timed their run perfectly.  They also looked a bit vague at corners, and it was no real surprise when Alvechurch equalised through Kieron Cook.  He had time to steady himself at the edge of the area before firing a low shot into the corner. However, the switch of momentum didn’t materialise and before half-time Carta scored again for Corby to restore the lead, with a low shot into the corner from the edge of the area. One imagined forthright words and finger-pointing in the home teamtalk at the interval, but if there were, they didn’t work this time.  Corby went 4-1 uip through two good goals, indirectly from set pieces.  A volley from Carta for his hat-trick goal, followed by a half-volley from Jamie Anton, removed any lingering hopes of a comeback. Carta completes the hat-trick Alvechurch never gave up.  Josh March had a chance, but it was saved by the feet of George.  A shot was deflected just over, while Corby also wasted their best one-to-one chance on a break.  Alvechurch were denied a late consolation goal by a clearance off the line, but they can’t really complain about this result.  The better team won on the day.
Pix
This is a ground with a distinct slope, and is deserving of a daylight visit because of its gorgeous rural setting.  Alvechurch in yellow-and-black.
Rant
I almost didn’t get there.  Setting off from Hertfordshire in late morning I first encountered issues on the M1 Northbound.  I made it with just fifteen minutes to spare, having had comedy moments at Northamptonshire roundabouts where Doris the Satnav was saying turn left and the Google Maps Lady was saying turn right.  The Google Maps Lady was also draining my mobile faster than the Corby fans drained the Alvechurch bar, so my phone was long dead before Doris failed to recall that the A5 is currently impassable at Towcester on the journey home.  At the third attempt I found a road headed in the right direction only to encounter two more holdups on the M1 Southbound.  Don’t get me started about the state of Newport Pagnell services.
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. This week, Pink loses to Green but no clean sheet for either.  No change in league positions, now based on my last 157 games. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Away Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 75% (9 from 12) 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 39.1 17.0 7.0 15.1 55.0 14.0 73.0 1.867 Grey 47.5 22.0 10.0 15.5 79.5 13.0 61.5 1.295 Green 83.0 42.0 10.0 31.0 139.0 21.0 102.0 1.229 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 17.0 7.0 3.0 7.0 38.0 4.0 6.0 0.353 Radioactive Bile 19.0 9.0 0.0 10.0 37.0 3.0 5.0 0.263 Orange 35.5 11.0 7.0 17.5 63.5 6.0 6.5 0.183 Yellow 31.0 8.0 7.0 16.0 65.0 5.0 -9.0 -0.290 Pink 17.0 5.0 5.0 7.0 35.0 1.0 -10.0 -0.588 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!  All being well, I complete “The 248” (meaning everywhere in England from Premier League to Step 3) next Saturday at Bamber Bridge v Stafford Rangers.