Hillians on the Ascent

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Monday 29 August 2016 at the Green Elephants Stadium, Leylands Park
Result	Burgess Hill Town 4 Folkestone Invicta 2
Competition	Isthmian Premier League (Step 3)
Hopping	Ground 593 and I am here due to the practicalities of Bank Holiday travel.  The nearest station is Wivensfield, there is no engineering work, no leaves on the line, and day returns are cheap today.  No changes are required because I live near the Bedford-Brighton line.  All of this is better than spending the day crawling around the M25.  It’s my second attempt to visit this ground – the first time was at the end of last season and had to be quickly converted into a trip to Haywards Heath.
Pre-match preparation
15th vs 9th in the early league table, with both teams losing on Saturday and neither being big scorers so far.  Invicta were promoted from Step 4 as divisional champions last seasonThe train travel and the Sussex location also meant the chance to catch up with @CyninSussex and a few local ales.  Cyndee very kindly supplied a replacement Mars Bar after this traumatic vending machine experience at Harpenden Station (yes, I know, I should know better) which left one of the country’s most valuable pieces of confectionery dangling in mid-air.  I had never seen a £1 Mars Bar before and this beats the previous best of 95p at Watford Gap (Northbound).
This match in one sentence
A thoroughly entertaining game with a comedy last-minute own-goal which was the flattering fourth for the home side.
So what?
It’s now 9th and 13th respectively but both teams start their FA Cup trails with home ties in the first qualifying round next week for Non-League Day.
The drama unfolds
Folkestone took the lead with a soft goal from a free-kick at a narrow angle.  It was difficult to see what happened from the other end but the club Twitter suggests that the shot, credited to Ronnie Dolan, crept in at the near post.  0-1 after 9 mins However, the Hillians struck back almost immediately.  First, Lee Harding hit the bar before a move down the left ended up with a tap-in for Tyrell Richardson-Brown.  1-1 after 12 mins Richardson-Brown would go on to have two good chances in quick succession and one before the break.  His pace and presence meant that he was a handful for the Folkestone defence who had to be thankful that his chance completion rate was on the low side today.  Both sides had one more good chance before the interval and Burgess Hill would have felt slightly happier.  1-1 at half-time It took 16 minutes before Burgess Hill took the lead with a curling left-footed direct freekick from Leon Redwood.  2-1 after 61 mins Redwood's shot is going in, trust me Folkestone found their equaliser with a slick break.  A powerful run through midfield from Scott Heard played in Ashley Miller down the left and the chance was taken at the far post by Ian Draycott.  2-2 after 75 mins With nine minutes left, a slick Burgess Hill moved down the left created a shooting chance for substitute Dan Thompson.  His complete mishit was heading well wide but became a pass for Dan Pearse who scored.  3-2 after 81 mins Burgess Hill deserved the win, and the scoreline was made a little glossier in stoppage time when Invicta’s Nat Blanks flicked the ball back to his keeper, who was caught flat-footed and despite a scrambled effort, could not prevent the own goal.  That was a tad harsh.  Final score 4-2
Ground Pix
This is a neat and tidy ground with a decent clubhouse, more than adequate seating and some excellent screening with mature trees.
Match Pix
Burgess Hill Town are in green.
Five Years of Modus Hopper Random
http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/rhyming%20triple It was this corresponding weekend in 2012 that I managed one of my favourite groundhopping feats with a “rhyming triple” of Truly Selsey, Madly Crawley (Down), Deeply Henley made even sweeter by the late enforced change of plan caused by an amendment to Horley’s fixtures!
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Grey takes the win over the rarely-seen Black but also concedes two.  Black drops one place in the table – this is now up to 90 games. 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded (GC) and +5pts for a clean sheet (CS).  Colours ranked by Pts per Game (PPG). P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 7.0 4.0 0.0 3.0 6.0 3.0 21.0 3.00 Green 45.0 25.0 5.0 15.0 69.0 13.0 76.0 1.69 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.50 Blue 24.1 9.0 5.0 10.1 40.0 8.0 32.0 1.33 Orange 14.5 4.0 3.0 7.5 18.5 4.0 16.5 1.14 Grey 34.5 15.0 7.0 12.5 58.5 8.0 33.5 0.97 Purple 9.0 4.0 2.0 3.0 20.0 2.0 4.0 0.44 Yellow 17.0 4.0 5.0 8.0 31.0 4.0 6.0 0.35 Pink 11.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 25.0 1.0 -10.0 -0.91 Black 4.0 1.0 3.0 0.0 11.0 0.0 -5.0 -1.25 Radioactive Bile 9.0 2.0 0.0 7.0 23.0 0.0 -17.0 -1.89 White 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.9 3.0 0.0 -3.0 -3.33
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  It is Non-League Day next weekend but I am not yet sure how much freedom I will have to make a long journey.  There are 38 FA Cup ties at unvisited grounds and I hope to make a random selection somehow. If I am constrained to be in Herts then the games at Slough and Sun Sports are quite close, and if I am in the Midlands then there are games at Highgate United or Ashby Ivanhoe.  The decision may well be as late as Friday evening.  Hope all my teacher (and pupil) readers have a successful start to their new terms.

Visitors' Victory at Invicta

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 2 May 2015 at the Fullick’s Stadium
Result	Folkestone Invicta 0 Merstham 3
Competition	Isthmian League Division One South Playoff Final (Step 4)
Hopping	Ground #568 for me and chosen as the nearest step 4 ground that I had not yet visited.
Pre-match preparation
Both teams had close semi-finals.  Folkestone had needed an extra-time Whyteleafe own goal and Merstham needed penalties to beat Faversham.  Both teams had scored 107 goals in their 46 league games and the home side finished as runners-up, five points ahead of the visitors.  All this, cliché klaxon, means nothing.  It was possible to watch a bit of cricket next door before the game, from the back of the open terrace.  I know my American readers love this.
This match in one sentence
Folkestone paid for missing several first-half chances as Merstham took theirs with surgical efficiency, putting the result beyond doubt just after the interval.
So what?
Step 3 Isthmian Premier League for Merstham, for the first time in their history.
The drama unfolds
There were three early corners for Folkestone in quick succession but Merstham took a sixth-minute lead with an element of controversy.  The controversy concerned offside, and it has to be said immediately that I was not in line but behind the goal, and as a teacher of physics I should know all about parallax errors.  I am quite prepared to believe that Simon Cooper timed his run from midfield to beat the offside trap.  What I find harder to believe is that he himself scored – it seemed to me that the ball was touched over the line (it would have gone in anyway) at the far post by a team-mate who must surely have been offside.  The ref did check with the lino before finally allowing the restart, and I hope they are right and I am wrong. The record books show 0-1. Merstham played with confidence and freedom, and also with a streetwise streak.  Ron Atkinson used to call strong early tackles “reducers”, and Merstham’s defenders certainly dished some out.  Nevertheless, the home side clawed their way back into the game, and the excellent one-handed save by Merstham’s Brannon Daly in this scene-setter clip might even be the turning point for the match.  Folkestone are in amber and black.  By the way, this is a superb non-league ground and location, as I hope you can see. There was an ill-tempered confrontation shortly afterwards but I cannot really comment definitively from the other end of the ground.  Folkestone missed two decent chances in quick succession – just after I wrote, “F still in this” in my notes, Merstham got their second with a free header for Tutu Enriques.  Seconds before the break – potentially a killer blow.  0-2 at half-time Folkestone came out first and fighting but then fell further behind to a well-taken free-kick from Fabio Saraiva.  That settled it, and although both sides kept trying to find the net the excitement of the occasion had ebbed away, not that the visiting contingent minded one bit.  Job done, really efficiently, and a major anti-climax for the home team whose promotion hopes fell at the same stage last season too. I took another clip as Folkestone sought to get on the scoresheet.  Final score 0-3
Ground Pix
Some dugouts are dug out deeper than others!
Match Pix
Unusually, I watched the whole game from one spot ...
Something You Don’t Get in the Premier League
I am fairly sure that @putajumperon and I met this well-behaved Merstham supporter a few seasons back (on his epic FA cup journey) at Egham Town FC.  As I recall, we may even have missed a goal during the moment of distraction!
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Blue beats grey and keeps a clean sheet.  Updated table at the end of the season – green is still at the top.
Soapbox Section
I did not know until today that there is a significant Nepalese community in the Folkestone area, partly due to historical connections with the Gurkhas of the British Army.  The crowd held an impeccable minute’s silence in respect for those who have lost their lives in the recent earthquake.
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  Maybe Chorley next Saturday if there are tickets available on the day.