Impressive Turbine Efficiency Against Thame Opponents

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 3 November 2018 at The Bee Arena
Result	Peterborough Sports 5 Thame United 0
Competition	Southern League Division One Central (Step 4)
Hopstats	Ground 663 on my lifetime list. I am here non-randomly because of the need to be local-ish today.
Context
3rd plays 9th.
In one sentence
The points were secured with four goals in the first 24 minutes of the game.
So what?
Peterborough Sports stay 3rd, four points behind the leaders but with a game in hand.  Thame United drop to 13th.
Match Report
The match started in bright sunshine and both teams adapted well initially on a surface which could offer a good old bobble here and there.  Sports took the lead from their first corner of the game.  After some pinging around the box, Avelino Viera smacked the loose ball into the roof of the net at the far post.  They soon added a second, as the ball was played back to Paul Malone, unmarked from his own throw-in, and an excellent curling cross was headed in by recent signing Jim Stevenson. The third came with only 22 minutes gone.  Lewis Hilliard worked a short corner and clipped a cross from the edge of the box for Viera to score his second.  Then only two minutes later the roles were reversed as Viera’s right-wing cross led to a rebound goal for Hilliard after Thame keeper Craig Hill had made a good initial save.  Four up with less than half-an-hour gone and it looked like a cricket score to come. Thame steadied the proverbial ship but never really looked like scoring.  Just before half-time, the ref pointed to the spot, awarding a penalty to Sports for a clash that was just outside the area.  The assistant intervened to have it changed to a direct free-kick.  The home bench protested loudly and their frustration was increased when Hilliard's set piece pinged against the woodwork.  For the record, I was in a good position to confirm that the assistant was correct and the right decision was made. The fifth goal came early in the second half from the penalty spot at the other end.  It was given technically for handball – I can only assume that the defender was instinctively trying to protect himself and brought his hands up to the ball, because it was from point-blank range and initially it looked harsh.  Another recent signing, Spencer Weir-Daley, scored from the kick. The sixth goal never came as maybe the decision-making around the box suffered somewhat as everyone wanted in on the act.  Maybe Thame settled for defensive damage limitation.  They made home keeper Lewis Moat make his first real save after an hour, rushing out to hold up an attacker on the break before getting back into position to palm away the eventual shot. It was an impressive showing by the hosts who clearly merit their high position in the table.  There’s some tough talk from Jimmy Dean in the manager’s message in the programme who implies that some players will soon be leaving the club with another promotion as a definite target.
Pix
Peterborough Sports (The Turbines) in blue.  A ground where you need to trust your SatNav – the entrance to the ground is not particularly easy to spot.  All very neat and tidy as you would expect from a club that have had successive promotions in recent years, with a large clubhouse.
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.  Table based on my last 164 games seen. Today, a win and a clean sheet for Grey, a thumping for Radioactive Bile causing it to drop a place in the table. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 68% (13 from 19) 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 40.1 18.0 7.0 15.1 56.0 14.0 75.0 1.870 Grey 48.5 23.0 10.0 15.5 79.5 14.0 69.5 1.433 Green 85.0 42.0 11.0 32.0 145.0 21.0 97.0 1.141 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 19.0 8.0 3.0 8.0 41.0 5.0 11.0 0.579 Orange 38.5 12.0 8.0 18.5 73.5 6.0 0.5 0.013 Radioactive Bile 21.0 9.0 0.0 12.0 45.0 3.0 -3.0 -0.143 Yellow 33.0 9.0 7.0 17.0 70.0 5.0 -11.0 -0.333 Pink 17.0 5.0 5.0 7.0 35.0 1.0 -10.0 -0.588 Black 6.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 15.0 0.0 -6.0 -1.000 White 1.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -2.105
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  39 Step 4 grounds left, mostly Northern, to complete the level, which will take me into next season at least.

A Journey Through Thame and Space

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 13 August 2016 at The ASM Stadium, Meadow View Park
Result	Thame United 4 Highworth Town 2
Competition	Hellenic League Premier Division (Step 5)
Hopping	Ground 589 on the lifetime list.  I am here because I am incompetent.  I set out to go to Kidlington v Farnborough, for pragmatic reasons.  Today I needed to find a fixture that was vaguely between Hertfordshire and Staffordshire.  About 20 minutes away from the ground, out of nowhere came a blinding flash of realisation that I had been to Kidlington before.  This is maladministration on a grand groundhopping scale.  Fortunately, a quick stop-and-internet-search in an A41 layby revealed that I could just about get to Thame instead, and I did so with ten minutes to spare.  Must do better.
An apology
This is why, when the first goal went in midway through the first half, I tweeted "Kidlington 1 Highworth 0".  Panic! Panic!  Especially as the score changed again almost immediately, and I compounded the error by tweeting "Thame United 1 Kidlington 1".  I cannot imagine what confusion I caused on the Hellenic patch for the time it took me to find out how to delete those tweets from my phone.  I mean well and I was a bit tired.  Sorry.  Won't do it again.  At least I spotted the error, unlike the time when I tweeted an 8 instead of a 0 for a score at AFC Kempston Rovers.
Pre-match preparation
Both sides won their FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round ties but in the opening league fixture, whilst Thame were thrashing Burnham 8-1 at home, Highworth were losing narrowly.
This match in one sentence
Thame United took control of the game with a three-goal burst in the second half.
So what?
Thame United sit at the top of the early league table on goal difference, and Highworth are one of four teams yet to gain a league point.
The drama unfolds
There was nothing much to say about the first 25 minutes except to note that both teams were working hard in the sunshine.  Thame (not Kidlington, oh no) broke the deadlock by breaking down the right.  The ball was squared, a first shot was well blocked but the rebound fell to Tom Ashworth who made no mistake.  1-0 after 26 mins The equaliser came four nominal minutes later but actually most of that had been treatment time for a Highworth defender.  With their first attack after the restart, Highworth won a penalty and Ashley Edenborough converted before the game continued on an evenly matched basis.  1-1 after 30 mins and at half-time Thame won the game with a burst of three goals in a twelve-minute spell around the hour mark.  First, a magnificent header by Andy Gledhill from a right-wing cross left the keeper no chance.  Then came the what-if moment as Highworth immediately fashioned a mirror-image chance from their left flank, but the unstoppable header was narrowly wide.  Thame players then queued up to shoot before Gledhill was successful at the third time of asking, and Lynton Goss added a fourth from the left side of the penalty area soon afterwards.  2-1 after 51 mins, 3-1 after 56 mins, 4-1 after 63 mins The news of an actual West Bromwich Albion goal at Selhurst Park was shortly reverberating around the Twittersphere.  By this point I had moved into the shade at the back of the main stand, in time to watch Fabian McCarthy take his time and pick his spot for a late well-taken but only consolatory goal.  Final score 4-2
Ground Pix
 This is a neat and tidy new ground with a very good, comfortable stand along one side.  It is a rare sight in Step 5 and one only has to look at the variation that I have encountered this season (Seaham Red Star, Cradley Town, Nuneaton Griff and here) to see that the national playing field is far from level.  Here in the Hellenic League the pitchside ads are for herbal supplements and hot air balloon insurance and I suspect Thame United will need to get back to Step 4 at least to sustain this facility over time.  I appreciate a well-designed new ground as much as a ramshackle collection of sheds, especially when the toilets are clean and present no hazard to health.  The refreshment bar menu is one of the best I have ever encountered at Step 5.  The whole place suggests that standards matter, and that gets applause from me.  The playing surface is excellent, and the programme is more than adequate.
Match Pix
Thame United are in red-and-black.
Why I was not at Crystal Palace v WBA
I am not a member or season-ticket holder, but the reasons go back several years really.  Most of the first hundred grounds that I visited were to watch West Brom play.  Then they got into the Premiership and suddenly I could not get tickets, and when I could then the outrageous bill for me and a brace of Yapplets left me feeling irresponsible as a parent.  Add the pressure to buy replica shirts on top of programme and refreshment costs, then the realistic necessity of a Sky Sports subscription to really follow the season as fixtures moved around so randomly, then add the anti-role model behaviour of "stars" like Saido Berahino and journeymen professionals with no more connection to and love for West Bromwich than the average mosquito (other bloodsucking parasites are available), add the fact that the chances of West Brom ever winning anything are about zero (though credit to Mowbray's side for getting to a Wembley FA Cup semi-final), and this interminable sentence can finally end leaving the reader with the explanation of how non-league groundhopping became my link with the game of the people.  When I heard that Paul Pogba will be allegedly earning enough in a year to pay for about 200 primary headteachers it made it even less likely that I will ever re-engage with the business end of the game.  Rant over.  Groundhopping is MUCH more fun.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
The Golden Age of Subbuteo never had fluorescent goalkeepers.  Just saying. There must have been a special offer this season on Radioactive Bile keeper tops as sported by the Highworth goalie (nearest camera).  I've seen three in a fortnight.  To be honest, the home effort is only marginally less garish (at the far end) and is barely allowable as Green.  The full league table appears here from time to time, but Green is doing well, the best of the frequently-seen colours.  While we are on the subject, a special mention must go to Thame United's Number 10, the first Step 5 player that I have seen with different colours for left and right boots.  Not even quantum physics predicted that this would happen. Pink and Yellow.  Sorry, I don't get it.  Old-school, me.
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  Hope that any of my A/AS level students reading this have a pleasant week leading up to a successful outcome on Thursday.  I'm just as nervous as you to be honest!  Meanwhile, not sure whether a midweek hop will happen but I hope to be on the road again next Saturday.