The edge of the world - or at least the county

When the fixture list comes out, there are games that jump out for those of us who travel independently. One such was this weekend's game away to Padiham - some distance away; somewhere most of us do not have cause to visit (I last took the train east of Blackburn to a FA Cup game at Great Harwood Town 20 years ago); a new ground; and some Good Beer Guide pubs on the way.

A couple of our Pharmacologists made late cancellations. Phil had forgotten he had a holiday booked, so had to eschew the Bridge Bier Huis, a Belgian style establishment in Burnley, for beers actually available in Belgium, whilst Jon succumbed to food poisoning, or was attending a wedding, I never worked out which.

As we were leaving the Bier Huis, an elderly gentleman at the next table wished us well and reminisced about games between our clubs in the Lancashire Combination.

Padiham's neat, compact ground is just a couple of hundred yards back from the main road, although quite tucked away, as we were to find. Although there is a bus about every 10 minutes, there were seven of us, so a minibus taxi was about the same price per head. Sat nav has not yet reached Burnley's taxis, so, following an attempt at direction with "follow that bus" just as it pulled in to a stop, we used Mr Google's maps on my phone. This worked until the little blue arrow decided to stop moving just before the crucial junction - fortunately someone spotted a sign.

Once inside, we were soon under way with a goal from Isaac Kusoloka. I got a couple of pictures, which Isaac put into a montage.

Montage and effects by Isaac Kusoloka, photos by me

No food or drink was lost in a nonetheless enthusiastic celebration.

The British Geological Society's online viewer shows maps of the rock under your feet at 1:50,000 scale, more detail than the 1:625,000 scale maps on our classroom walls at school. Padiham, like Prescot, sits on bands of sandstone alternating with the mudstone of the Pennine coal measures. Unlike Hope Street, the Arbories Memorial Ground is fortunate to be on well draining sandstone. The pitch was therefore in good condition despite the recent wet weather.

Rob Doran performs on the well drained pitch

Padiham drew level after half an hour, then Phil Bannister pulled us ahead again about 10 minutes into the second half. It was a good day for photography, the first day of the year I have been able to let the sports mode on the camera take care of shutter speeds without having to make sure it does not go too low, so I was pleased to get a picture of this goal too.

Phil Bannister shoots for goal

There was intermittent sun throughout the game. With one end of the ground facing south west, the sun was near the horizon by the end, so I moved to the side of the pitch.

Mike Kennedy

Our poor away form continued with Padiham scoring a second equaliser. We have not won away in the League all season, our position being maintained by our form at home, where we have sprung a couple of surprises on visitors expecting an easy win. However, we once again avoided defeat, so we maintained our position relative to Padiham, below us in the table.

Although the Merseymart carried pictures, they did not include a report, even of the basic facts from the League website, so I got three quarters of the back page - whatever the captions may suggest, the picture of AFC Liverpool manager Paul Moore is not one of mine.

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

Final score: Padiham 2 Prescot Cables 2 (Kusoloka, Bannister)