The youth of today

So far this season, this blog has been fairly well tied to Prescot Cables: I have not even had a weekend in London to watch Dulwich Hamlet. So, for a change, I watched a different team, but not that different, Prescot Cables Youth, playing in the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Youth Cup against York City, having defeated Curzon Ashton and Stockport County along the way.

As a club based photographer, taking pictures of the same team every week, you get used to the way they play, so you can anticipate who is likely to hold the ball or run with it, and where players are likely to play the ball. So, a game between sides you do not normally watch is a welcome challenge.

The Youth team of course lacks the older players who have replaced youthful pace with guile and anticipation. Not only that, they do not see the point of hanging round at the restart of play. A goal kick is almost always a chance to check the last few pictures to make sure everything is still in focus while the players take a breather. Not so with the Youth team, their pace and keenness to attack, combined with the efficiency of the Juniors as ball boys, meant that with a moment's look at the monitor, I was missing the action.

With this being a significant event for all the players, I did my best to get everyone in the slide show, although, with its being an evening game, I may have missed a couple, which is a shame, as all the players contributed to the performance.

It was an entertaining game to watch and photograph. In recent years, the Youth team has been a good soource of players for the First team, so I am looking forward to seeing some of these players again in the future.

The full slide show from the game can be seen here.