Colliers Go Down in the FA Cup

 

Front page of e-Programme (downloadable pdf)

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 22 August 2026 at Woodhorn Lane
Result	Ashington 2 Thornaby 3
Competition	FA Cup Preliminary Round
Hopstats	Ground #814 on the lifetime list and I’m here because it’s a good day weather-wise for a long drive and this is the furthest ground of my season priorities that is hosting a game today. I’m also very fond of early-season FA Cup games.
Context
Step 4 Northern Premier League Division One East hosts Step 5 Northern League Division One. Ashington beat Hordern CW 2-0 and Thornaby won 1-0 at Guisborough Town in the previous round.
Match Report
This was a good game for the passing neutral. Ashington almost gifted Thornaby an early lead by losing the ball in a dangerous central area with the keeper out of position, but calmed themselves by taking the lead themselves in the 11th minute. Good play down their left flank led to the ball being rolled gently past the visiting keeper Sam Taylor into the far corner, but it came back of the post. A valiant attempted block could only deflect Jamie Holmes’ shot into the roof of the net. Mid-way through the first half, Thornaby were level, slightly against the run of play. Home keeper Matty Alexander was judged to have brought down Spencer Walker as he was rounded. It looked a soft one, admittedly from the other end of the stadium, but Walker himself made no mistake from the spot. Alexander was soon called into action again with a good low save to keep the scores level but there was still no sign of what was to come later. Ashington led 2-1 at half-time when Craig Spooner scored with a well-placed shot after 37 minutes after another fluid build-up. My notes say that the scoreline felt right. Ashington had definitely had the better of the first 45 minutes, usually just missing the clinical final pass after some good approach work. Thornaby’s second equaliser came from the first corner of the half, just a minute after the restart. A textbook header from Jacob Thompson brought the scores level again. Thompson's header hits the back of the net in the 46th minute Thornaby were now gradually to take control of the game and on the hour Walker gave them the lead with a well-taken goal and the tide had turned. There was still plenty of time but Ashington struggled to get the final ball into the box to make Taylor work harder except for one good save in the closing stages. For the last few minutes Thornaby sat back more and played on the break and took the ball to the corners when they could. In this game of two halves you have to say they deserved their win.
So What?
Cliché time – Thornaby into the proverbial hat for the First Round Qualifying.
Pre-match Entertainment
No time at all after a 5hr journey! Caught up with the global news via the BBC World Service en route. What depressing times we live in.
Pix
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today we had Green (Matty Alexander) v Orange (Sam Taylor). Five consecutive incorrect predictions in a row equals the longest streak in my long sequence but as any mathematician will tell you these are independent events and this has no bearing on the odds for or the outcome of the next game. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 48% (106 from 219)
What Next?
No specific plans as yet. Step 3 priorities will be Redcar Athletic and Worcester City to complete that level, also Liverpool Women (at St Helen’s RLFC) in the WSL. Then there are 30 unvisited grounds at Step 4.

 

Seaham Out Despite Quality Up the Front

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 6 August 2016 at Seaham Park (now known as Ferguson Motor Repairs Stadium)
Result	Seaham Red Star 1 Morpeth Town 3
Competition	FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Hopping	Ground 586 on the lifetime list.  I am here, randomly, because of a roll of 80 on a d100 “golfball” die (see previous post).
Hello Again
Life has been hectic to say the least and last season I had to cut back on groundhopping because I had neither the time nor the energy to make the longish journeys that my spreadsheet is now demanding.  The same thing may happen again, but August brings the early rounds of the FA Cup and random groundhopping is great fun.  I am continuing with the teaching day job as a Head of Science for the foreseeable future.  The nation needs science teachers and it is about having a raison d’être and making a difference.  I also considered starting an education blog but decided to let Modus Hopper Random have another season, trying to inform and entertain in the eccentric little niche I have slowly built.  Thanks, as ever, for your support and encouragement.
Pre-match preparation
Not much to be said.  I saw Morpeth win the FA Vase at the end of last season, but this is the first competitive game of the season for both teams, and both will have some new faces.  Morpeth’s knockout track record will probably make them marginal favourites.  I decided to make this a train journey and for an extra few quid came home in First Class for a lifetime first.  I could get used to that.  There was also time for sit-down seaside cod and chips in a place with a very long queue (always a good sign) and a WINE LIST.  Awesome. Plenty of old-school station architecture for me today. This is Darlington.
This match in one sentence
Seaham will look back with regret at a number of what-if moments in a game that Morpeth in the end won comfortably enough.
So what?
Morpeth Town will play either Jarrow Roofing or North Shields in the next round.
The drama unfolds
The Northern League feels more like Step 4 than 5 and these two large sides broadly cancelled each other out in the first twenty minutes of glaring northeastern sunshine.  Morpeth created the first clear chances though, the best coming midway through the half as Liam Henderson shot over.  The same player was denied moments later by a combination of keeper and post.  Nevertheless, the Morpeth pressure was building and Paul Robinson opened the scoring with a low shot from distance.  Shaun Newbrook in the home goal got a hand to it but to no effect.  0-1 after 33 mins Morpeth were now on top and Ben Sayer shot just over before Robinson hit the woodwork.  Newbrook had done as much as anyone to keep Seaham in the game at half-time, with only one goal in it.  0-1 at half-time The first what-if moment came ten minutes after the restart when Seaham’s Dan Kirkup glanced a header just wide from a set piece.  Then, what if Craig Lynch’s shot after cutting inside had crept inside rather than beyond the post.  For a minute later his team became “the ten men of Seaham Red Star” as Kirkup saw a red card for a last-man indiscretion.  It would eventually prove to be a big factor in the game. In the short term, however, Seaham scored a splendid equaliser.  Nicky Kane rode a challenge or two and set up Lynch for a magnificent curling shot into the top corner.  Game on!  1-1 after 65 mins Maybe not, because Luke Carr caught the home defence flat-footed and scored almost immediately following a corner.  1-2 after 67 mins Damen Mullen then hit the bar again for Morpeth from an outrageous distance but what if Seaham sub David Paul’s dipping 25-yarder had gone under the bar a moment later rather than smacked it and bounced out to safety.  So nearly parity again but to be fair Morpeth went close themselves once more before adding an icing-on-the-cake third through a header from sub Michael Chilton.  1-3 after 85 mins and at full-time
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Seaham Red Star in red, of course.
Big Lads Up Front at Seaham: “Tommy” and "The Brothers"
Tommy is actually Eleven-Oh-One, a steel sculpture by Ray Lonsdale that was created to mark the centenary of World War One.  It is highly photogenic, it dominates its surroundings, and it was getting plenty of attention as usual.  Not just from the Pokemon players. The Brothers, by Brian Brown, marks the town's mining heritage with three figures "waiting t'gan down" the pit.  Seaham had three coal mines.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Yellow against something that is just about allowable as green.  Here’s a full updated league table that is now nearing a total of 100 games.  At some point I will get round to doing some proper statistical significance tests.  My suspicion is that the variances are such that it really doesn’t matter much.  However, I am starting the red-is-best self-fulfilling myth here and now.  Bad news for any team who actually play in red, eh José? I counted this as green.  Dulux would not be happy. The story so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet P W D L GC CS Pts PPG Red 6.0 3.0 0.0 3.0 6.0 2.0 13.0 2.17 Green 42.0 22.0 5.0 15.0 64.0 13.0 72.0 1.71 Orange 12.5 4.0 3.0 5.5 14.5 4.0 20.5 1.64 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.50 Grey 31.5 14.0 7.0 10.5 45.5 8.0 43.5 1.38 Blue 24.1 9.0 5.0 10.1 40.0 8.0 32.0 1.33 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 Black 3.0 1.0 2.0 0.0 7.0 0.0 -2.0 -0.67 Radioactive Bile 6.0 2.0 0.0 4.0 12.0 0.0 -6.0 -1.00 Pink 10.0 1.0 4.0 5.0 23.0 1.0 -11.0 -1.10 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!  I have new grounds at West Ham and AFC Fylde, and first-time visits to Poole Town and Darlington to restore my 92, my 116 and my 160 and then I am only a dozen or so away from “everywhere down to Step 3” (is that 226? must check).  They will be the season priorities for league fixtures.  I suspect West Ham v WBA will be unattainable.  Hopefully a bit more FA Cup and Vase thrown in soon too.  Gotta love knockout football. Edit: I now see that Worcester City are tenants at Bromsgrove Sporting so I will need to go there too for the "160".