It has been a few weeks since we have had a proper look at the stats chart and there have been two games where the Narhwals have been without their two key players – Messers Gimli and Grumpy – resulting in a loss and a draw. Now is a special opportunity to look at the stats in detail!!
On the goal front it is extremely interesting to see how the goals are spread around when Bedford is not in the pool. Most evidently, Andy “goal haul” Ogg grabbed 8 in 2 games whilst our top scorer was away. Those 8 goals lift Andy into the Green Zone with Phil “backsplash” Richards and Rob “3 majors” Loveless in hot pursuit. It is also tight a little further down – with Weeble, Tony, Punchy and Static separated by 2 goals.
Top striker Bedford is 23 goals off the century mark and with a goals per game ration of 3.67 is expected to break that boundary easily – especially as we power towards the Thameside League games in November and December. Compared to the same time last year, Nick “Von Poo” Shute is 8 goals down on his tally, despite having played 4 more games this year. Similarly Phil and Oggy are 8 and 3 goals down respectively. That being said, as a team we have scored 60 more goals this season having played 4 more games. Our goal difference so far for the season is +30, compared to last year’s -21.
In regards to majors, this is as ever a strongly “fought” competition, with John “Do you want some?” Holah leading the pack (as always) on 22 majors. Despite vocal threats at the Christmas Dinner from Mrs. Holah that he’d “be in trouble” if he brought the Catas Trophy home for a third year, it seems he hasn’t taken that message on board… He is closely followed by the usual suspects Ed “lazy major” Gamble (20) and Gary “Brutal” Bowen (19). This year’s surprise package is Nick “dirty cheat” Shute, following the leading pack with 17. This year we have committed 140 majors – with Finch Jnr holding the highest Brutality Rating of 3.00 – closely followed by Mr. Bowen on 2.71. Amazingly, Simon “clean as a whistle” Tidy has managed 10 games without committing a major… probably because he never covers back…
By far and away our best player this year (by Man of the Match) awards is Dan “Goals” Bedford (7) with Nick “Magic Moments” Shute leading the field with Moment of the Match nominations (8). The fluffiest fluffer at the moment is Matt “wayward” Finch (5), but he is closely followed by Tadija “jumping in” Popovic and Nick “not fair” Shute – both on 4. Currently on a leave of absence in Portugal are Messers Richards, Gamble and Mann (5,5,6) – hopefully they will be found soon…
There is still a long way to go in the season and plenty of time to rack-up some Fluffs, Maddys and Majors.
Forza Narwhali!!