Eagles Have One of These Nights as Hatfield Take It To The Limit

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Tuesday 8 September 2020 at Pixmore Playing Fields
Result	Letchworth Garden City Eagles 0 Hatfield Town 1
Competition	Herts Senior County League Premier Division (Step 7)
Hopstats	Number 710 on the lifetime list and I’m here non-randomly because I live in the district. In fact, my professional career started at Fearnhill School in the town, back in 1979, so a big hello to anyone who remembers me! There were several familiar groundhopping faces in attendance, and I had a brief chat with @RussWWFC as I wandered round the touchline.
Context
Second league game of the season. The Eagles won their first game, Hatfield drew theirs. Nothing more to be said as yet.
In One Sentence
A hard-working away win from a game of great effort but few clear chances.
So What?
Still much too early to say anything sensible at this point in the season.
Match Report
Hatfield started brightly and certainly had the territorial advantage for half an hour, but at the same time neither keeper really had to do anything other than routine clearances. Both teams lacked the cutting edge to go with their midfield effort and defences were on top. Hatfield were gradually getting closer, their first real chance coming from a shot just wide on 36 minutes, but almost immediately Letchworth had their best chance of the first half and it needed a good late clearance to snuff out the chance. The half-time whistle came with the match still goalless. Halftime: Letchworth GC Eagles 0 Hatfield Town 0 The second half was more of the same in some respects, with neither keeper called upon to make a proper save for some time, but the home side had woken up and were more in the game. At this point I would have thought Letchworth would eventually score first, but as so often happens I was wrong. A Hatfield freekick into the box was initially headed away and then a shot blocked, but a second rebound fell nicely and was drilled into the bottom right-hand corner. Check out @thecoldend for a video clip. The Hatfield keeper made a good sharp save to protect the lead shortly afterwards and then had the presence of mind to stay on his feet to shepherd an attacker way when he could so easily have made contact and risked a penalty. As Letchworth threw men and ball forward in the closing minutes, he was needed to make another brave save to secure the points for his team. The stream of exhortations from the Hatfield management for workrate and shape almost never ceased, and the team delivered. This was a very hard-working and determined performance. It was a bonus to find a programme being issued, and the event felt safe enough to attend, with a crowd of around 50 in attendance.
Pix
Letchworth in blue-and-black.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
Usually accompanied by a pre-match prediction on Twitter just before kickoff. Working towards being able to compute a respectable statistical significance test by the end of the season. The full keeper top performance table from my last 211 matches is here, on this separate page. Today Orange loses to Yellow, who also gets a clean sheet, enough to climb one place in the table. The prediction rate drops back to 50% for the first time. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 50% (33 from 66) 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. The odd decimal places were caused either by undeniable half-and-half tops or lower league sub keepers 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 (and supported by anonymous scientists of some description) that orange is the best colour for a goalkeeper because it changes the behaviour of other players around the box. It is supposedly because of an innate primeval human reaction to the colour and the colour “spreads” more in the vision of a striker at the key moment of decision. Genius or garbage? The evidence is gathering here, and it's leaning towards garbage.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! All being well, going to Ramsgate this coming Saturday for an FA Cup tie, and then I had my eye on fixtures at Atherton Collieries on 19th and Melksham on 26th, viruses and lockdowns permitting of course. At the time of writing it begins to look as if they won’t be happening.

 

Buntingford Set Herts Fluttering at Knebworth

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 28 April 2018 at Knebworth Recreation Ground
Result	Knebworth 1 Buntingford Town 2
Competition	Hertfordshire Senior County League Premier Division (Step 7)
Hopstats	Ground 644 on the lifetime list, and here non-randomly today because I needed to stay local.
Context
There are some teams with a lot of fixtures left to play in this league.  Knebworth are in the lower half of the table but with several games in hand.  Buntingford are bottom with even more games in hand, but that won’t count unless they start winning.  They have just one win and two draws all season.
In one sentence
A plot twist saw Buntingford take the points with a late, late winner.
So what?
The teams stay 11th and 15th respectively but maybe a wake-up ripple through time and space will be felt at Evergreen and Lemsford in 14th and 13th.
Match Report
The surface was wet and slippery, but a good playing surface and in much better condition than I was expecting to see given the weather.  The daisies are doing well.  The players took the opportunity for a few old-school sliding tackles.  The chat at pitchside was that Knebworth were missing a few regulars, but that some reserves were stepping up, including a goalkeeper who has more regularly been seen outfield.  Pep Guardiola got his inspiration from English Step 7, I tell you.  The game was largely fought in midfield for the first quarter of an hour.  Buntingford took the lead when the stand-in keeper was unlucky to see his parry of a fierce shot from distance fall nicely to Buntingford’s #9.  Knebworth deservedly levelled before half-time – a cross from the right was over-hit but the return from the left gave James Tizard the chance for a header into the corner. Level at the break, and the teams largely continued to cancel each other out during the second half.  The best chances came from set pieces, and both teams rode their luck at times.  The last ten minutes had as much serious goalmouth action as the rest of the game put together.  The visiting keeper made a great block with his feet and then a Knebworth corner caused chaos and it took a goalline clearance to stop them scoring.  It felt somewhat harsh that Buntingford went up the other end within a minute and scored to grab the points.  There was still time for one more goalmouth melée but Knebworth’s players could not get that ball over the line.  A result that is not of huge significance to Knebworth, but keeps alive that glimmer of hope for Buntingford.
Ground Pix
Two adjacent pitches and a large number of trees!  I’m somewhat obsessed by non-league trees at the moment and they are lined up here with mathematical precision.  Despite the incessant drizzle, this was an amiable afternoon out at a friendly club with real mugs for the coffee.
Match Pix
Knebworth in orange.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Blue (just about, a very greeny one) loses to Orange, but overall league positions unchanged after 145 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.  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 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 45.5 21.0 10.0 14.5 73.5 12.0 59.5 1.308 Green 74.0 36.0 10.0 28.0 123.0 19.0 90.0 1.216 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 15.0 7.0 0.0 8.0 30.0 2.0 1.0 0.067 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 for details!