Ee ba goals

Prescot Cables did not have the best of weeks prior to the visit of Wakefield at the weekend. The disrupted journey and defeat at Kendal Town were followed in midweek by a 6-0 defeat to a clinical Skelmersdale United in the Doodson Sport Cup. The League Cup is of more value for Skelmersdale than for us: it gives game time for squad players, and a good run, with the Final near the end of the season, can boost confidence if they reach the playoffs or are making a push for the title, as Dulwich Hamlet found in their two League Cup Final appearances in the last three seasons. Not that the people in the announcers' box will be keen to see Skelmersdale's away kit, whose numbers did not provide much contrast with the kit colour in low light.

John Beattie and Rob Doran get the ball away from Skelmersdale's Matty Hughes in low-vis

The question was how our team would respond. Wakefield are competing with us to avoid relegation, and these are the sides we need to beat, with points gained against higher flying sides being a bonus. Would they take their example from Skelmersdale in clinical finishing and punishing errors, or would they have been disheartened by the scale of the defeat?

Whatever the answer, it was clear that the record would be a grainy one, as the light was the worst of the season, to be expected in November, with low, thick cloud: the lighting conditions were similar to those at Kendal the previous week, where the game took place half an hour later under lighter cloud.

The question of whether the team would bounce back received its first answer on 16 minutes, via Phil Bannister.

Phil Bannister shoots for goal

That was the only goal for the first half, but the second half showed it was just a start. The lighting was such it may as well have been an evening game.

Ged Murphy had a go, briefing Antony Shinks on what he had in mind ...

... Antony takes the free kick ...

... and delivers the ball with pinpoint accuracy, with Ged heading just wide.

Shortly after, the ball came to Rob Doran in the goalmouth.

This picture made it into the slide show on the "a goal is a goal" principle: to be a good photo, I would need an unobstructed view.

A few minutes later, Wakefield goalkeeper Shaun Penn successfully dispossessed Sean Breen ...

... but found himself at the mercy of Connor McCarthy, who has a knack for taking advantage of a goalkeeper in difficulties.

Both Rob and Connor were substituted quite quickly after their goals, which can at first sight seem strange, but of course it is more likely to be a result of the manager's plan - have the player go flat out for a goal, knowing he will only be playing 20 minutes of the half.

The fourth goal came from the returning Joe Evans, making his first appearance of the season - a goal I unfortunately did not capture.

Joe Evans

This performance not only pulled us ahead of Wakefield, keeping the right side of a point per game average, but goals from four different players and a clean sheet will hopefully also build confidence after 4 defeats in a row.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Final score: Prescot Cables 4 (Bannister, Doran, McCarthy, Evans) Wakefield 0