Bourne Supremacy

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 3 May 2025 at the JJMac Stadium, Abbey Lawn
Result	Bourne Town 1 Boston Town 1 (90 mins, no ET) Bourne Town win 8-7 on penalties
Competition	United Counties Premier League North Playoff Final (Step 5)
Hopstats	Ground 800 on the lifetime list! Here because it’s an important match for both teams, and a new ground for me.
Context
Bourne Town had missed out on automatic promotion by one point, finishing behind Lincoln United. They disposed of AFC Mansfield with a 4-0 home win in the midweek semi-final. Boston Town had finished fourth but saw off third-place finishers Eastwood CFC with a 2-1 away win. Bourne won both league fixtures against Boston with a 1-0 scoreline but these matches were back in September and December 2024.
Match Report
With a big crowd expected, I made sure to get to the ground early, and arrived to hear “I Predict a Riot” playing over the PA. I thought maybe this was because the printed programmes hadn’t yet arrived, and an obvious gaggle of groundhoppers were gathered near the gate displaying various degrees of anxiety. With coffee, ice cream and programme sorted in due course, I chose my viewpoint on the far side from the main stand, and even put my woolly hat on as the temperature dropped. Bourne made a flying start. Two corners in quick succession led to a header hitting the bar, and a ball flying through the six-yard box with no-one able to get a touch. Breathless stuff. The rest of the first half settled into a more even pattern. The gusty breeze caused a bit of an issue for both teams, forcing a safety-first mindset for the defences on occasion. Boston had their first clear chance after 24 minutes, but this was followed by the need for a flying one-handed save by their keeper at the other end. However, the visitors took the lead just before the break, with a tap-in for Jordan Nuttell manufactured with a move down the right flank. History repeated itself at the start of the second half with another Bourne chance, the ball once again flying across the face of goal with no-one quite close enough. The occasion was now getting understandably tense, but the equaliser was deserved. Brad Marshall was the scorer, probably one of the scruffier goals scored after two successive corners and a pinging around in the box. Neither team was able to break the deadlock in the twenty remaining minutes and so we went to penalties after 90 minutes. Bourne had the advantage of shooting first. The first six spot-kicks were scored, a mix of fierce shots and cool placements. The seventh was saved to give Bourne the advantage, but so was the eighth. Bourne went into the lead at 4-3, in effect setting up a sudden-death scenario. After 4-4 we were into the sequence of players who might have hoped to avoid taking a penalty. So, 5-4. Then the next penalty so nearly saved, but into the roof off the keeper’s hand. 5-5. Advantage Bourne again at 6-5, but the next one from Boston almost broke the net. 6-6, 7-6 and 7-7 followed. Then 8-7 with a cool defender’s penalty, placed low. It had to happen sometime, but the eighteenth spotkick was saved. Agony for the Boston sub who had stepped up, and fair play to his senior colleague who immediately went to console him. All the arguments for and against shootouts flashed by there and then. Massive joy and a pitch invasion for the hosts. Irritating and pointless smoke canisters were deployed. I left them to celebrate and spent a few minutes watching the club cricket on the adjacent ground before heading home to the spreadsheet and blog. Congratulations to Bourne Town, and commiserations to Boston Town.
So What?
Back-to-back promotions for Bourne Town who will go up to Step 4 next season.
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Bourne Town in claret.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today a draw after 90 minutes between Green (the fluorescent variant) and Pink but an ultimate victory for Green. This has been the first sequence of five unsuccessful predictions since predictions started 183 games ago. The table is based on my last 328 games. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No (after 90 minutes) % of correct predictions so far 49% (88 from 183)
What Next?
Last-minute decisions, as is my most common practice these days. Maybe a few trips to Wembley if tickets for playoffs become generally available. Already lined up for Women's FA Cup Final and England v Portugal in the Women's Nations League at the end of the month.

Like Father, Like Son

 

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Monday 29 May 2023 at Wembley
Result	Barnsley 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1 aet
Competition	League One Promotion Playoff (Second Tier)
Hopstats	Third visit to Wembley in consecutive days, and the fourth season that I’ve been able to secure tickets for all three EFL playoffs. This year I needed help, and thanks today go to Agent W who knew Agent C, and with some timely financial admin involving Agent R, I’m here as an honorary Owl. Given that they are managed by WBA legend Darren Moore, I’m very happy with that.
Context
The third and fourth placed teams have made it to Wembley. Barnsley were the latter, and they saw off Bolton Wanderers in the playoff semi-final. Sheffield Wednesday needed one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of English football. 0-4 down against Peterborough United after the first leg, they needed a 98th minute goal in the second leg to get back on level terms. They conceded first in extra time, but scored again themselves before going on to win the penalty shootout. Sheffield Wednesday finished two points behind Ipswich Town in the last automatic promotion place, and ten ahead of Barnsley. They had led the division for much of the early and mid-season. Their final total of 96 points is a record for a third-placed side.
In One Sentence
A tense and largely forgettable game eventually erupted, defined by a controversial red card for Barnsley and the latest of extra-time winners from Josh Windass, whose father Dean has form of his own in such matters.
So What?
As is the way with playoffs, Sheffield Wednesday are going up to the Championship. Barnsley remain in League One.
Pre-match Entertainment
A reverse of yesterday evening’s walk, along the South Bank of the Thames from Blackfriars to Westminster in the sunshine before taking the Jubilee Line to Wembley Park.
Pre-Match Pix
In the absence of anything more original, this year’s running joke on the blog has been bits of the Bobby Moore statue. As I was circling it looking for a new angle today, a steward politely enquired whether I was OK. I explained, and she laughed, and she suggested that it would have to be Bobby Moore’s Booty today. She was very clear that she preferred the term Booty to Bum, and I’m not going to argue. So here is Bobby Moore’s Booty, the one that he used to ease Jairzinho of Brazil off the ball in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. A World-Cup winning Booty of the highest footballing pedigree.
Match Report
This was a tense, attritional game in the first half. Two early half-chances for Wednesday, and a shot over the bar for Barnsley. A momentary mix-up in the Wednesday penalty area that needed a decisive booting out by their captain Barry Bannon, just before half-time. He was not happy with his defence. He had been at the centre of his team’s better moments. Barnsley had looked a bit sharper and more decisive in their passing but were also pretty toothless. I was up on the back row near the halfway line and Owls’ fans near me were fretting about ponderous play, but it was also so, so tense. We were a long way from the action up there but we were all surprised by the appearance of a red card. The second half had started with a VAR check for a possible Barnsley penalty, not given by the ref, and then a couple of minutes later he produced the card for Adam Phillips after a tackle on Lee Gregory. VAR supported the decision. Perhaps surprisingly, this didn’t change the game as much as you would think – at least at this point. Barnsley coped well. Wednesday’s main method seemed to be to engineer crossing opportunities from the flanks, and many of the passing decisions seemed sub-optimal. Only Bannan seemed to have his footballing brain in gear. Barnsley so nearly took the lead when Liam Kitching’s header hit the bar. The game came alive as Wednesday hit back and Bannon shot just wide. Harry Isted in the Barnsley goal had been solid all afternoon and he made an excellent stop on the hour. His opposite number Cameron Dawson also did well to tip James Norwood’s shot over the bar with ten minutes to go. It did not seem that eleven were playing ten. The last few minutes and stoppage time drifted by, and so to extra time. In the first extra fifteen, Bannon shot over the bar again and Isted saved at point-blank range during a frantic minute of Wednesday pressure. The fans near me were warming up, feeling that the Barnsley defensive dam was about to burst. Isted saved from Bannan again, and then … this game’s “What if?” moment came with Barnsley on the break. Kitching ran from midfield, played it right to Luke Thomas, whose pass put a goal on a plate to Luca Connell. Unbelievably, he missed the target. There had been more goalmouth action in the last ten minutes than in the first ninety. But still nil-nil. Will Vaulks, a Wednesday sub, hit the back of the net with a rasping, rising shot in the first minute of the second period. Cue euphoria, music, celebrations, somersault and backflip – until the assistant’s offside flag was spotted. Bannan shot yet again, this time a volley directly at Isted, and that was his last contribution as the cramp that had been threatening for a few minutes finally had its way. With everyone now thinking about penalties, especially me after my pre-match prediction, the dam did finally burst. Lee Gregory’s cross found sub Josh Windass, whose diving header won the game. An astonishing end. There was a nominal restart before an immediate final whistle. Josh’s father, Dean Windass, scorer of a playoff-winning goal for Hull City, was in the stands. For the third day in a row, the stadium divided. It has seen two penalty shootouts and a 120th-plus minute winner. This felt even more harsh and cruel than the other two. The event managers clicked into gear and started assembling the various bits and pieces of celebration paraphernalia. None of them were necessary. Some Wednesday fans were too relieved to be ecstatic, and Barnsley fans were already on their way home. These events are brutal. Absolutely brutal. I’ve been a fly-on-the-wall for them all this year, and I’ll probably try to do it again. Thanks for reading.
Match Pix
Sheffield Wednesday in blue and white stripes.
Darren Moore and Other People Doing Their Jobs
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 test of statistical significance, it looks like an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test will be appropriate. The full keeper top performance table from my last 282 matches is here, on this separate page, and I’ll organise the test when we reach 300 pieces of evidence. Today, as yesterday, was Green v Green, and the prediction of a draw with penalties was very, very close to being correct. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Draw & Penalty Shootout Was the prediction correct? No, Not Quite! % of correct predictions so far 47% (65 from 137)
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! That is almost certainly the end of the 2022-23 season for me, but I may well take a tangent or two into other sports before 2023-24 starts.