Now that the euphoria of Sunday's victory is settling I thought it might be an appropriate time to pose a question my brother asked me when we were having a celebratory drink on Sunday.
I think it was the claim for a penalty in the first half that was turned down that prompted him to ask: 'have we had a penalty awarded to us down at the cricket field end since Andre Gray scored v Blackburn in 2016?

I think Chris Wood took one at that end against West Ham a couple of years ago. Back when the grounds were empty because of Covid

Definitely the West Ham game we lost think Antonio scored 2 after Wood gave us the lead

Thankyou for that. Not that long ago then. Cheeky question but have there been any others. We've tried but cannot recall any.

The most penalties for any team in the Championship in the last 5 years was PNE with 11 in 19/20. Most seasons the highest is 9.
I think we probably had fewer than 9 in the entire time SD was in charge!

With Benson, Tella and Zaroury adding some fleet footed trickery to our attack it's interesting that we've still only had 2 this season, Reading have had the most with 4.

If penalties are evenly split between home and away and both ends of the pitch you'd expect to have 2 or fewer per season at each end of the pitch.

Silkyskills1 wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 11:38 am

Thankyou for that. Not that long ago then. Cheeky question but have there been any others. We've tried but cannot recall any.

Don't think so. Every other pen we've had in that time has been at the other end

Speaking of the cricket field end, how come we always seem to play towards the Jimmy Mac second half. Has something changed regarding the coin toss? You'd have thought some teams would try and switch ends. I can't remember the last time it was the other way round.

Ric_C wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:08 pm

Speaking of the cricket field end, how come we always seem to play towards the Jimmy Mac second half. Has something changed regarding the coin toss? You'd have thought some teams would try and switch ends. I can't remember the last time it was the other way round.

Working on a 50/50 split. Half would want to kick off rather than choose ends and then most would want to kick towards their own fans. Only leaves a small percentage who would turn us around.

We are slightly different, we prefer the slight down hill advantage over kicking towards our vocal fans.

Would be interested to know the stats on results when we are reversed. Superstitious me always feels apprehensive when it happens

Clowbridge89 wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:21 pm

Would be interested to know the stats on results when we are reversed. Superstitious me always feels apprehensive when it happens

We played downhill first half against Wigan in 2014, when promotion was sealed. Wonder how often we’ve played that way since then…

Clowbridge89 wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:21 pm

Would be interested to know the stats on results when we are reversed. Superstitious me always feels apprehensive when it happens

Was quite a few years ago, but I remember us losing twice when we were turned around. Might have been the Stan era. There was definitely a correlation

Roosterbooster wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:31 pm

Was quite a few years ago, but I remember us losing twice when we were turned around. Might have been the Stan era. There was definitely a correlation

It definitely happened a few times in the PL as well

Quickenthetempo wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:15 pm

Working on a 50/50 split. Half would want to kick off rather than choose ends and then most would want to kick towards their own fans. Only leaves a small percentage who would turn us around.

We are slightly different, we prefer the slight down hill advantage over kicking towards our vocal fans.

Is there definitely a slope on the pitch?

ChrisG wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:51 pm

Is there definitely a slope on the pitch?

Yes, once you notice the Bob Lord wall against the pitch it will be obvious.

Quickenthetempo wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:59 pm

Yes, once you notice the Bob Lord wall against the pitch it will be obvious.

I would have guessed that the pitch has been lifted to level it and the stand isn't level rather than the other way round

ChrisG wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:51 pm

Is there definitely a slope on the pitch?

Definite slope towards the Jimmy Mac, also a curve on the pitch from side to side with it slightly higher through the middle

bumba wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 1:24 pm

Definite slope towards the Jimmy Mac, also a curve on the pitch from side to side with it slightly higher through the middle

I get that it appears to be higher at the Cricket Field end as it has been built up at that end.

What I can't get my head round, is why you would build the pitch up as it is, for there to be a slope in the opposite direction. There must have been a slope towards the Cricket Field at some point which is why is has been built up at that end, hence the relatively steep slope on that corner.

Surely if you were going to build it up to correct a slope, you'd made it level and not introduce a slope towards the other end!

ChrisG wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 1:33 pm

I get that it appears to be higher at the Cricket Field end as it has been built up at that end.

What I can't get my head round, is why you would build the pitch up as it is, for there to be a slope in the opposite direction. There must have been a slope towards the Cricket Field at some point which is why is has been built up at that end, hence the relatively steep slope on that corner.

Surely if you were going to build it up to correct a slope, you'd made it level and not introduce a slope towards the other end!

All football pitches have a little slope for drainage. Older grounds will be bigger.

ChrisG wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 1:33 pm

I get that it appears to be higher at the Cricket Field end as it has been built up at that end.

What I can't get my head round, is why you would build the pitch up as it is, for there to be a slope in the opposite direction. There must have been a slope towards the Cricket Field at some point which is why is has been built up at that end, hence the relatively steep slope on that corner.

Surely if you were going to build it up to correct a slope, you'd made it level and not introduce a slope towards the other end!

going back to my youth, in the days of the old Longside and Bee Hole, there was a noticeable slop down from the Cricket Field End, and you can still see it with the wall at the front of the BL stand being higher at one end. There was a marked drop off from the pitch in front of the Longside and the Bee Hole, which was particularly noticeable in the corner between the two. it must have been something like six feet

todclaret wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:14 pm

going back to my youth, in the days of the old Longside and Bee Hole, there was a noticeable slop down from the Cricket Field End, and you can still see it with the wall at the front of the BL stand being higher at one end. There was a marked drop off from the pitch in front of the Longside and the Bee Hole, which was particularly noticeable in the corner between the two. it must have been something like six feet

Presumably levelled at some point in the past then, to incorporate the slight drainage camber mentioned by Quicken above.

Love these little bits of history.

ChrisG wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:26 pm

Presumably levelled at some point in the past then, to incorporate the slight drainage camber mentioned by Quicken above.

Love these little bits of history.

Yes, think they built up the Bee Hole end when they constructed the new stands to level it off a bit. Maybe done additional work when new pitches have been laid since.

Prior to the new stands, we always preferred to play to the Bee Hole first half, then Cricket field in the second half.

So we are saying we spent a few £m on a pitch and it’s not even level? Give over.

Quickenthetempo wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:15 pm

Working on a 50/50 split. Half would want to kick off rather than choose ends and then most would want to kick towards their own fans. Only leaves a small percentage who would turn us around.

We are slightly different, we prefer the slight down hill advantage over kicking towards our vocal fans.

Teams wouldn't choose to kick off if they won the toss. That only happened when we were kids in the playground.

I'm pretty sure I heard that all our captains are under instruction to shoot towards the CFS first half.

todclaret wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 4:56 pm

Yes, think they built up the Bee Hole end when they constructed the new stands to level it off a bit. Maybe done additional work when new pitches have been laid since.

Prior to the new stands, we always preferred to play to the Bee Hole first half, then Cricket field in the second half.

Pretty sure we’ve played towards the CFS in the first half for a number of years before the new stands. In fact I’ve been going on since the mid 70s and can’t remember it being any other way.

In the early 90’s we always used to attack towards the Cricket Field stand in the 2nd half.

Well, not always but mostly.

It seemed to change when the new stands were built

Fans in the old Cricket Field end used to suck in the Irvine Morgan Lochhead Coates Harris goals in the second half.. as a kid it was a special place

Still begs the question why teams don't switch it around, just to even attempt to upset our rythmn. Especially since we are on a long unbeaten run in the championship at home.

It'll be 7 years on 5th December since we last lost at home in the Championship

Roosterbooster wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 17, 2022 10:05 am

It'll be 7 years on 5th December since we last lost at home in the Championship

As long as we don't lose in the meantime. COYC!

We don't play before then

I thought this was a thread about on the spot penalty’s for coke use !

ChrisG wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 1:33 pm

I get that it appears to be higher at the Cricket Field end as it has been built up at that end.

What I can't get my head round, is why you would build the pitch up as it is, for there to be a slope in the opposite direction. There must have been a slope towards the Cricket Field at some point which is why is has been built up at that end, hence the relatively steep slope on that corner.

Surely if you were going to build it up to correct a slope, you'd made it level and not introduce a slope towards the other end!

The slope has always been towards that end as long as I can remember

arise_sir_charge wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 16, 2022 5:15 pm

So we are saying we spent a few £m on a pitch and it’s not even level? Give over.

Before the pitch had major work done I’d only watched from the JHU (as mentioned it is noticeable the height of the BLS perimeter wall is higher at the CFS end) so it looks flat from up above. This season sitting at a lower level in the BLS(CFS end and a game in the 100 club) you do notice the slope and how the pitch slopes into the corner between JML and JHU.