East Meets West in the Southern League

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 20 January 2018 at Ladysmead
Result	Tiverton Town 2 St Ives Town 3
Competition	Southern League Premier Division (Step 3)
Hopstats	Ground 632, which completes this division and leaves me with three Northern grounds to complete everywhere-in-England-down-to-Step-3 aka The 232.  Not random today – this was the only unvisited Step 3 ground with an unapocalyptic weather forecast and the club helpfully tweeted the positive result of an early pitch inspection by the match referee.
Context
5th against 21st in the division so “on paper” a home banker.  Insert joke about playing on grass here.  That being said, Tiverton have had a rotten January with their only points being from a thumping of bottom side Gosport Borough.
In one sentence
St Ives made Tiverton pay a heavy price for a wasteful first half and won it from two down with a last-minute worldie from a sub.
So what?
Still 5th against 21st.  However, Slough Town in 6th have a ridiculous number of games in hand and this result is a blow to play-off hopes.  St Ives are also still plenty of points short of 20th place but there are two clubs in a very poor position below them this season so they should be safe.
Match Report
I was actually pleasantly surprised to read that the game had been given the green light by the match referee at 8.30am.  I drove through plenty of rain on the way to Devon and I was slightly concerned when I saw how much the pitch cut up during the warm-ups.  Thankfully, everyone seemed happy enough to get the game done and dusted and as a long-distance visitor I am grateful for that.  It was great entertainment for the passing neutral, but I suspect that the locals will have stereotypically consumed their own body weights in consolation cider and/or cream teas whilst I drove home.  That’s what I would be doing in their position.  I envisage head-scratching too. The match started in bright sunshine as both sides traded early chances, getting both keepers grubby.  Tiverton appealed strongly for a penalty after a direct freekick after 15 minutes.  Their claim was the defender in the wall had moved an arm or shoulder towards the ball.  The home side had gradually gained the ascendancy but there was a bit of defensive generosity about the opening goal.  Levi Landricombe found himself in a lot of space in the box with no offside flag as the ball arrived from midfield and it was a fairly easy finish. There were two other really good Tiverton chances before half-time.  One needed a goal-line clearance from Daniel Moyes and the other a good save by Tim Trebes from a shot by Jared Lewington.  The 1-0 interval scoreline was fair enough and in no way flattering to Tiverton. Their second goal came very early after the restart.  From a corner, Jamie Price headed against the upright and maybe it was slightly fortunate that it rebounded straight back off him and in.  How deliberate, I couldn’t say.  If I’m honest, I expected St Ives’ heads to drop as the pitch became increasingly heavy and difficult, but I know nothing. The pitch played a role in the visitors’ first goal.  A through ball dropped in the area with all the finesse of a British Mars Lander, made a crater and got stuck under an attacker’s feet just before the said attacker was then felled by an incoming defender.  Danny Watson buried the spot kick to keep the game interesting for neutrals. Tiverton tried to restore the two-goal margin and Landricombe (Levi, that is, as there is also a Michael) nearly had his second when he turned his defender in the mud and fired just over.  So close, and ultimately so expensive.  Just a couple of minutes later, two St Ives attackers had the freedom of Tiverton on the right and Oliver Snaith scored the equaliser.  The last 15 minutes was therefore set up to become VERY interesting. With just under ten minutes to go, Trebes had to take a booking for a cheeky pull on an attacker – again the pitch contributed to this by making the keeper fluff the clearance outside the box.  Then the rain started, more or less horizontally.  The finale was superb if you are from the East of England.  Tiverton had three subs all named Rogers, but it was St Ives’ sub of the same name, Declan, who scored a stunning left-foot shot from distance into the corner, with the scoreboard showing 89 minutes gone.  An absolute cracker, a points-stealer, a what-might-have-beener.  I’m just glad I was there to see it, and that the match took place at all.  On a trivial note, I wonder whether there has ever been another game where four of the ten subs had the same surname?
Ground Pix
Good clubhouse, seating all down the opposite side, and both ends covered.  Easy to park but read the website directions first because the actual entrance is not easily spotted from the main road.
Match Pix
Tiverton in yellow.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Orange loses to blue, but no clean sheets (or clean kit).  No change to the existing rank order, now based on the last 132 games that I’ve seen.  Sooner or later this will become statistically significant and it has been quite a while now since a change in the pecking order. 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, and it deserves to be last, trust me.  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 Maroon 4.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 6.0 1.500 Blue 31.1 13.0 6.0 12.1 49.0 10.0 46.0 1.479 Grey 43.5 20.0 9.0 14.5 72.5 11.0 51.5 1.184 Green 71.0 35.0 9.0 27.0 121.0 18.0 83.0 1.169 Orange 29.5 9.0 6.0 14.5 49.5 5.0 8.5 0.288 Purple 11.0 5.0 2.0 4.0 25.0 2.0 2.0 0.182 Radioactive Bile 13.0 6.0 0.0 7.0 26.0 2.0 2.0 0.154 Yellow 28.0 8.0 6.0 14.0 58.0 5.0 -3.0 -0.107 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 Fire Cracker 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 4.0 0.0 -4.0 -4.000
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  The three northern priorities are Ashton United, Whitby Town and Athersley Recreation (Shaw Lane’s landlords).

Promotion Ambition Still Blossoming at Evesham

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 18 April at the Jubilee Stadium
Result	Evesham United 2 Tiverton Town 1
Competition	Southern League Division One South & West (Step 4)
Hopping	Ground 563.  Here because of proximity to the West Midlands where I was paying a flying visit to the ancestral home.
Pre-match preparation
Tiverton have mid-table safety in the bag.  In the Evesham bag is a home tie in the divisional playoff semifinal.  Results from this week and next week will decide who finishes 2nd & 3rd from Evesham and Stratford Town, and therefore who would have home advantage in a subsequent playoff final.  Tiverton are one of only a few teams to have taken the points off Evesham this season.
This match in one sentence
Evesham trailed at half-time but did just enough to win a forgettable game.
So what?
Stratford Town were winning 6-2 at the same time but they go to divisional champions Merthyr Town next week.  Evesham and Stratford will line up against Taunton and Larkhall in some combination in the playoff semi-finals.  Evesham’s game is away at mid-table Bridgwater.
The drama unfolds
It was a sunny but breezy day and both teams played safe when faced with a bouncy ball on a dry and dusty pitch.  Aerial passes were dropped into channels and the centre-backs of both sides were busy but mostly effective.  Most of the chances came from set pieces but plenty of those were wasted too.  There was very little shade and it is too early in the season for my balding pate to take on a full dose of ultraviolet so I sat in the main stand and finally got around to taking one of the most tedious clips of the season after 20 minutes or so.  I wouldn’t bother watching this unless you are an obsessive completer-finisher, or all your paint is dry, or you are having trouble sleeping.  It does, however, show the lovely open and rural aspects of Evesham’s relatively new home.  The home side are in the red-and-white stripes. Tiverton took the lead shortly afterwards with a route one goal from Tony Lee and to be fair probably just about deserved it.  0-1 after 25 mins Evesham were very unlucky after 32 minutes when a well-executed shot-on-the-turn from Carl Brown came back off the woodwork, but that was about it.  0-1 at half-time Evesham started the second half on the front foot and it was not too long before the equalising goal was hooked in by Matt Sysum.  1-1 after 53 mins The game then settled into a long period of stalemate – maybe with Evesham showing a little more attacking intent and Tivvy happy enough to wait for the break – until the ball fell nicely in front of goal for Lance Smith.  He buried the chance to give Evesham the win.  2-1 after 82 mins and at full-time The news of Stratford’s win came through immediately meaning that the players will probably have to do the same again next week, and hope Stratford stumble, to keep open the hope of a home playoff final.
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Last week, Cambridge United (green) and Accrington Stanley (purple) played out an unblogged 2-2 draw.  Today, green has beaten blue.  The net result is that green goes to the top of the table.  Full table to follow at the end of the month.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  A lot depends on how I am feeling at the end of the first week of a new school term!