Nessun Dorma in St Ives

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 28 December 2013 at ProEdge Westwood Road
Result	St Ives Town 4 Ashford Town (Mdx) 0
Competition	Southern League Division One Central (Step 4)
Hopping	Number 529 on the lifetime list, at the first club within travelling distance to declare “game definitely on” on my Twitter feed this morning.
Pre-match preparation
St Ives are in mid-table in their first season at this level, and Ashford Town are bottom of the division.
This match in one sentence
St Ives took their chances and lasted the distance on a very heavy pitch – the win was straightforward but maybe not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests.
So what?
Order is preserved – St Ives will survive in Step 4 but Ashford Town (along with Chertsey Town) are now very detached from the pack.
The drama unfolds
The Ashford defence were looking into the low sun for the first half.  The first goal was a neat header from a curling free-kick – Lee Ellison the scorer and Jon Stead the provider from the right wing.  1-0  after 5 mins I took my scene-setter clip in the shadow of one of the floodlight posts to try to get the correct exposure levels. Avelino Viera caused problems for the Ashford defence all afternoon, often initiating attacks from the right-wing.  He provided the assist for the second goal, a header for Karl Gibbs.  2-0 after 21 mins The home side were in complete control of the game.  They had a third goal disallowed for a push, and there was a narrow escape for Ashford when the ball bounced randomly around the six-yard box.  However, the visitors finished the half strongly and had two half-chances just before the whistle.  2-0 at half-time Viera had an early second-half chance but Ashford’s keeper Tyler Tobin did well to block the fierce shot.  Ashford then had a chance of their own after a slip in midfield on the worsening pitch.  Barney McLaughin was forced into a full-length save and gathered the ball at the second attempt.  Both sides created and missed a number of chances in an end-to-end game.  Jon Stead certainly should have scored one, but he was not the only player to fire high and/or wide.  Viera continued to be central to the best St Ives moves. Ellison was left injured in the penalty area after one attack, and with the crowd yelling at the ref for ignoring a head injury, the physio was eventually called on – to treat his ankle after all.  Who’d be a ref?  Shortly afterwards, Viera got his goal, a tap-in after a decisive move down the left.  3-0 after 80 mins There was time for one more, a deft finish by Dan Banister as Ashford rather faded.  St Ives deserved their win, for sure, but Ashford really should have got themselves on the scoresheet.  4-0 after 87 mins and at full-time Thanks to the St Ives Town Twitter feed for helping with player identification.
Ground Pix
For my GCSE Science/Chemistry pupil stalkers (I know you are out there) – note this fine example of galvanising – placing a sacrificial layer of zinc on to the iron beneath in order to protect the valuable floodlight posts from rusting.  The thin layer of zinc often shows up as a “spangled” crystalline layer which is an indication of the regular arrangement of the zinc atoms in the metallic structure.  For a grade A you need to be able to explain why zinc is chosen for this particular task, and why metals have classic "metallic" properties such as strength, and conduction of electricity.  I keep telling you, science is all around you.  So is Latin - see below.  "Sudore non Supore" means "by labour, not (by) sleep" and is an exemplary use of the ablative case.  Might adopt this as the motto for my revision lessons next term ...
Match Pix
Huddle Stats
No huddling today. 2013-14 Summary so far: P W D L GF GA Pts Pts per Game Non-Huddlers 21 9 3 9 31 31 30 1.42 Huddlers 12 4 4 4 9 9 16 1.33 Twin Huddlers 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 1.00
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
The St Ives’ keeper wore green and Ashford Town’s wore yellow.  The two colours swap places in the table after this result. 2013-14 Summary 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 GA (-1 each) CS (5 each) Pts Pts per Game Red 1 1 0 0 0 1 8 8.00 Grey 9 5 2 2 9 4 28 3.11 Green 7 3 0 4 8 2 11 1.57 Yellow 4 1 1 2 8 1 1 0.25 Blue 2 0 1 1 2 0 -1 -0.50 Orange 3 1 1 1 6 0 -2 -0.67 Pink 5 1 3 1 10 0 -4 -0.80 Radioactive Bile 3 1 0 2 6 0 -3 -1.00
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!