Step Threes to Heaven

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 21 April 2018 at Hurst Cross
Result	Ashton United 2 Nantwich Town 1
Competition	Northern Premier League (Step 3)
Hopstats	#642 on the lifetime list, but more importantly it completes, for the first time for me, the “Every current ground from Premier League to Step 3” list of 232 clubs.  As of today (and I hope I am right here) this covers 230 separate grounds because of Isthmian groundshares for Kingstonian (at Leatherhead) and Dulwich Hamlet (outrageously displaced by soulless vultures to Tooting and Mitcham recently).  This landmark will remain intact for the few remaining weeks of this season before Dorking Wanderers move to their new home and Tottenham Hotspur move a bit.
Context
Last home game of the regular season for United (The Robins) and they will want to win in order to try for home advantage in the playoffs.  It is not mathematically certain as yet but my unofficial assessment (not having checked whether any of these teams still have to play each other) is that a win today would mean Witton Albion could not overtake them.  Nantwich (The Dabbers) are in a position of mid-table respectability.
In one sentence
The points were won with a direct free-kick on the stroke of half-time.
So what?
Nantwich are still mid-table and respectable.  The playoff position will be clarified further this week as Shaw Lane play twice and Farsley travel to Witton.  If Shaw Lane and Farsley keep winning, then Ashton will need to get something from at least one of their two remaining games, and probably from both if they want the home advantage for the semi-final at least.
Match Report
This match will be well-documented elsewhere so I’ll be brief(ish).  A defender’s slip almost gifted Nantwich an immediate goal and with hindsight that could have been the game’s hinge point right there.  The home side tried to play the ball from the back, and the opening goal after six minutes was a lovely glancing header by Liam Tomsett as he timed his run from midfield.  I was at the other end but it looked as if Nantwich keeper Myles Boney was deceived by the bounce. Ashton persisted for most of the half with the methodical build-up play but it was not always productive or fluent.  It was classic home-and-away with the home side being urged to show most ambition but the away side always threatening a breakout. Indeed, the visitors gradually grew in confidence and their equaliser was bundled in from close range following a set piece.  The Ashton website gives it as an own goal for the aforementioned Tomsett.  Scoring for both sides – we’ve all done it. Nantwich equalise However, Nantwich gave away a needless freekick on the edge of the area for use of an elbow in a challenge.  Half-time managerial team talk scripts were ripped up as Sam Sheridan scored in stoppage time. The winning goal The second half started with a flurry of chances.  Nantwich had the ball in the net after great dribbling and a pass by Nathan Cotterell but the flag was up for offside.  Then Tomsett curled a shot narrowly wide before Daniel Mooney’s lofted shot hit the Nantwich post and bounced across the empty goalmouth to safety. After that, really clear goal chances were rare.  The two teams cancelled each other out in midfield and both defences were well organised.  Ashton played more directly and pragmatically.  The keepers did what they had to do, which wasn’t a great deal in terms of difficulty.  Although another Nantwich goal would have changed the outcome fundamentally, Ashton never really looked uncomfortable. I’m not giving the exact phrasing here, this is a family blog after all, but a cultural style point goes to the Nantwich fan who told the Ashton keeper Josh Ollerenshaw that he was “wobblier than a tap dancer’s testicle” (or words to that effect anyway) towards the end of the first half.  You don’t get that in the Premier League.
Ground Pix
What a great old-school ground this is.  Full of character and characters.
Match Pix
Guess who left the memory card for his main camera at home?  These images brought to you by the compact substitute which I happened to have in the trusty hopping rucksack.  Ashton in red.
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
A win for grey (just about qualifies as grey by comparison with the white background here) over blue, so blue topped the table for just a week. Results so far after 143 games: 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 Fire Cracker 2.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 4.0 1.0 4.0 2.000 Blue 37.1 16.0 7.0 14.1 52.0 14.0 73.0 1.968 Grey 45.5 21.0 10.0 14.5 73.5 12.0 59.5 1.308 Green 74.0 36.0 10.0 28.0 123.0 19.0 90.0 1.216 Purple 14.0 6.0 3.0 5.0 31.0 4.0 10.0 0.714 Maroon 5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 9.0 1.0 3.0 0.600 Orange 30.5 9.0 7.0 14.5 49.5 6.0 14.5 0.475 Radioactive Bile 15.0 7.0 0.0 8.0 30.0 2.0 1.0 0.067 Yellow 31.0 8.0 7.0 16.0 65.0 5.0 -9.0 -0.290 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
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  In the short term, who knows.  For next season, the priority will be to repair this 232 with visits to Dorking and wherever else may be required, and then get on with around 40 teams left at Step 4.  The final priority list will depend on end-of-season promotion and relegation (and folding) outcomes and the groundshare merry-go-round.