Turnstile body ready

An advantage of a game at Burscough on August Bank Holiday is that if you are beach body ready, you will also be trim enough to fit through the hosts' unfeasibly narrow turnstiles. As for the rest of us...

Dr Tony and I arrived at the Hop Vine at the same time from different directions. They had had a beer festival over the weekend, and were selling off the festival beers for £1.50 per pint, with eight or nine still available, so it would have been rude not to partake. As we approached the ground, we thought our visit might have been unwise if we had put on any weight.

We arrived to find a bright, sunny day, like the one, almost 12 years ago to the day, on which I first took a camera to a game. The sun can be a problem at Burscough, as there are a lot of light surfaces, which can cause glare. I did not have much time to ponder this, as we were quickly in the lead, with a goal from James Edgar, recorded in the 0th minute, which seemed to disrupt the space time continuum: I thought you started in the first minute. Either way, I got a picture, on the "a goal is a goal" principle.

In the last couple of games, we have scored early only to find ourselves unable to press home the advantage. This was not to be on this occasion. Next to score was Rob Doran, after nine minutes. I was doing well, having caught this goal too, although it needed some tweaks on the lighting.

This was to be a feature of the afternoon, the conversion in ViewNX seemed to be defeated on many images by the glare and associated deep shadows, so I found myself trying manual conversion for a quarter of the frames. The technically minded can see in Google Photos where I think this worked, as the file name contains a (2).

Prescot goals turned out to be a feature of the afternoon too. Next to score was Jack Phillips.

To complete the scoring for the first half, Joe Herbert was impeded in the area ...

... with Rob Doran converting the resulting penalty.

For the second half, the direction of the sun meant a bit less glare, but did not eliminate it completely. The substitutes had a chance to try out the league's new bibs, as they did not clash with anyone's kit.

Jacob Jones

The second half had an air of a job having been done. Rob Doran completed his hat trick with a long distance shot, but play was a lot more in our half, with our defence remaining solid. I was concerned the Tesco next to the ground meant the perimeter wall may give the impression it does not prevent viewing the game from outside the ground.

Sam Staunton Turner

Our convincing win left us in the unaccustomed heights of third in the league after four games, and the hosts as one of two teams that have yet to post any points. I suspect Burscough will pick up as the season progresses, Dave Powell did a good job for us a few years ago with limited resources.

Dave Powell (front)

After the game, I went back to the Hop Vine, where the entertainment was an oompah band whose repertoire seemed more Ormskirk than Oberbayern. Selling off the festival beers was going well, as they were down to two by the time I left for my train.

The rest of the pictures can be seen on the club website here, and on Google Photos here.

Final score: Burscough 0 Prescot Cables 5 (Edgar, Doran 3 (1 pen), Phillips)