The right stop

I have been to Ossett on so many occasions, I can now travel on autopilot. I can even afford to be vague as to which club we are playing: if I find our coach parked outside Ossett Town, opposite the bus station, it is time to get off, whereas if it is not, I need to stay on for a couple more stops to Albion.

I had seen the team sheet online, and a few of us were surprised Lloyd Dean was on the bench. However, we have just assembled not just a team that plays well together, but a squad can do so in a surprising number of permutations, allowing us to take full advantage to rotate players. Unusually for this level, this also applies in goal, with Ben Barnes having performed well whilst Marcus Burgess was injured, and Marcus was able to return whilst Ben was on holiday.

Marcus Burgess

I have remarked before on the microclimate affecting Ingfield, being a couple of degrees colder than the town. Our video analyst Josh remarked that it was a bit cold, but he says that in places I think have been positively balmy for the time of year. I have noticed since working pitchside, that the perimeter fence often provides a convenient windbreak, an advantage he does not have, being often above the protection even of the ground perimeter.

I was not keen on the width (or lack of it) of the run off behind the goal, so I took up position by the side of the pitch. The ground has a slight slope, and falls away sharply behind one end, so you get plenty of shots against the sky. Add that this was the earliest sunset of the year for us (it had been getting later for a week, but we were further east than the previous week), throw in a sky that political journalist and Dulwich Hamlet supporter Conor Pope once described as "England Euro 96 away shirt grey", and there were some good contrasts.

James Edgar

I was only just settled in my place when James Edgar opened the scoring. I had better luck capturing the shot when Josh Klein-Davies added a second.

Josh Klein-Davies lines up his shot

Chris Almond ensured we had a healthy three goal lead at half time.

Chris Almond

At half time I did a quick photoshoot for Josh, who wanted a picture for the cover of his university coursework. With people doing things like working a camera, it is considerably easier to take a picture of them pretending to do so in a controlled situation rather than trying to catch them doing so in the wild.

For the second half, I went to the bottom of the hill, and found a similar issue with the width of the run off, so I settled for the side again. I was barely in position before James Edgar opened the scoring for the half. More or less my first shot was the celebration.

I had operated for most of the first half on shutter priority, as the sports mode was giving me too slow a speed, and left the metering in spot mode from the previous game. For this half the floodlights came fully into play, so I tried centre weighted, before settling on matrix (which is also used by the sports mode). The lights at Ossett are quite bright and white so it worked quite well.

Reece Fishwick

Our fifth goal came directly from a free kick from the touchline by Josh Klein Davies, with Chris Almond completing a repeat of the scoring pattern from the first half.

A late substitution also saw Tunde Owolabi return to the team, after short spells at Hyde United and Glossop North End.

Tunde Owolabi

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

Final score: Ossett Town 0 Prescot Cables 6 (Edgar 2, Klein-Davies 2, Almond 2)

Crossing the barrier

There is always something special about the first day of the season, people emerging from where they have been over the summer, and, without needing to be guided, taking familiar places on the terraces and in the stands and the bar. Some have returned from our summer sports or walks in the countryside, some have made the journey specially, whilst others have been at the club already, with tales to tell of the pre season programme, or looking forward to people seeing the results of a summer's work on the ground.

With the start seeming to be earlier every year, some are still away. With our manager and captain both being teachers, it is impossible for holidays not to intervene, and we would be without James McCulloch for the first two games. A recently returned Brian Richardson greeted me with the news that my reputation for an inability to capture goals (worse than usual in pre season) was spreading, with the players starting a sweep on whether I would get one. We will come back to that later.

We were sporting a new kit, the same Puma design as the last couple of seasons, but in the yellow with which we are more familiar.

Chris Almond

I too had been issued with new kit: Garry Williams, our goalkeeping coach, supplied me with a high vis bib for use pitchside. I did not try it in pre season, but as I was on the pitch taking the initial line up for our opening game against Ossett Town, I decided to give it a go. I made a makeshift seat near the Safari Park End. getting the low position that is particularly good for still sports photography.

Lloyd Dean

My initial location is also where the substitutes often warm up (it seems to depend whether the assistant referee wants to keep an eye on them, in this case he did not). To avoid photographing round them, I moved to the other side of the corner flag, leaning against the famous fence. It held my weight, although that was not the direction in which it collapsed in the first place.

Louis Coyne

I also got a decent view of the crowd.

The Dugout Irregulars

For the second half, we were attacking towards the Hope Street end, sponsored by North West Roadshow.

Jordan Wynne

There are some concrete protrusions from the base of the terrace at this end, providing a handy seat for a good view.

Baba Conteh

We had not performed well in the first half, giving away a penalty and conceding a second goal. We were much better in the second half, but we could not convert this to goals until Jordan Southworth scored in injury time.

Jordan Southworth shoots for goal

I am not sure how this works in the players' sweepstake, but it is definitely the shot for goal. The team showed impressive discipline, not wasting time with celebrations but getting straight back for the kick off to try for an equaliser. Unfortunately time was too short, but this was a good performance against last year's play off runners up, who may be looking forward to another good year.

Valter Fernandes was the season's first Man of the Match, being presented with the award by Alan McNally of Joseph's Joinery, who supplied the new woodwork around the ground and helped the volunteers to fit it.

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

Whilst my new photography position is good for pictures, it is not necessarily sociable - my friend Dr Luke was visiting us, something that, due to spending most of the game below the perimeter fence, I only found out as we exchanged a cheery handshake as he left at the end.

Final score: Prescot Cables 1 (Southworth) Ossett Town 2.

300 up

I noticed last week that I have now accumulated 300 posts in these pages, which I did not have in mind when I thought of sharing photo tips in 2011. I spotted this preparing a post on my visit to Cammell Laird last week, but I decided to combine the anniversary post with the first game of Prescot Cables' regular season, so the Cammel Laird post will follow this.

Prescot were entertaining Ossett Town. In the corresponding fixture last season we faced a visiting team needing points, whereas we were safe, and superior motivation won. Having a good start to competitive action (technically last season's action), with a big win in the Liverpool Senior Cup semi final, and a good display against a strong Everton side in the well attended final, we were keen to continue.

Both sides were quick to get a grip on the game, and in some cases on each other.

We had the better of the first few minutes, but fell away after having a goal disallowed for offside. I moved from behind the goal to the Gasworks Side for a few minutes. From here, I was able to see the first goal, as we came back into the game, a penalty from Rob Doran after James Edgar had been brought down just inside the area.

Rob Doran takes the penalty ...

... and Robbie the coach driver watches it go in.

Dr Tony and his father Ronnie brought their flag to indicate to our Yorkshire visitors where they were (observing historic county boundaries), and indicating that real ale was available, although their home county is not too shabby in that department. The flag also promotes the Augustus John, a pub on the University Precinct (a designation that went the way of the Convocation life membership I paid for when I graduated), a recruiting ground for Cables support for 25 years.

Dominic Marie

James Edgar scored our second goal. Dr Phil, who looks after the Facebook page, wondered if I get many pictures of goal celebrations. I had to admit I do not, as I am often looking to see if I got the goal. However, I was able to oblige on this occasion.

Amongst our new sponsors is Rogues & Rascals Barbershop, sponsoring a Man of the Match award. The first winner was Joe Herbert.

Joe Herbert

I have been working on getting the image from the presentation out before I get home, so the sponsors can use it straight away, although perhaps not within Getty Images' 180 seconds. I invested in a decent (or at least bigger, and a LOT cheaper than a proper Nikon), flash unit, and am experimenting with the tools available to crop the image. As I looked at the image that had gone from website to Facebook page, annihilating pixels as it went, I decided there is some way to go on the latter. Here is how it looks when I have had chance to process it on the computer.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Doran pen, Edgar) Ossett Town 0

All a bit quiet

At Prescot Cables' game against Ossett Town, Rod, our drummer, was unusually quiet. His Vicar was on holiday, so Rod was looking after his dog, and left his instruments at home. This can be an occupational hazard of going to church, although it is unlikely to fall to me. Our Vicar has a cat, who does not accompany anyone to football, and who looks at me with the disdain that can only be mustered by a cat determined to remember my accidentally treading on his tail 18 months ago.

Rod's Vicar's dog - I'm sure his collar should be white

We were joined at the game by friends and family of Dermot Allister, a long standing club volunteer who died recently. Dermot will be remembered at the club for many years to come for the murals he organised, the tiger visible from the top of Hope Street, and the 1884 mural unveiled last month.

Whilst we have been sure of league safety for a few weeks, we have for some time met teams who have a greater need for points, and coming off second best from the encounter. The visitors were no exception, in a struggle with Harrogate Railway Athletic, against whom we suffered a defeat earlier in the week, to avoid the remaining relegation place.

I started the game in front of the tea bar,

Charlie Duke

and then worked my way round behind our own goal and along the Gasworks Side,

Shane Glean

to behind the goal we were attacking.

Phil Bannister

The visitors had the balance of play, so I made my way back to the side, where I stayed for most of the game. One goal in the first half, and two in the second, secured the result for Ossett, the last being from David Brown who has featured in these pages on many of our encounters with Yorkshire.

David Brown

A positive aspect of our season is that we do not stop looking for goals, and we secured a late consolation from Oliver Grundy, his first for the club since joining us the transfer deadline day last month.

Oliver Grundy

After the game, I had another duty, photographing the presentation for the Player of the Month for March, won by Lloyd Dean.

We did not quite get the presentation in before the Grand National, so I found myself watching it, which I never make a conscious effort to do. Despite growing up near a racecourse (or perhaps because of it, having the village person's natural suspicion of all things connected with the village next door), I have never followed horse racing. Steve Garnett, our Commercial Manager, likes to get a picture of the presentation on the website as soon as he can, so I tried using the camera's WiFi and the Nikon Wireless Mobile Utility to process the picture whilst still out supporting a pitchside advertiser.

Bram Johnstone playing against Burscough

Steve was happy with the result, but I found that, having loaded it from the camera as a jpeg, then cropped it on the phone's photo editor, the quality was borderline acceptable for the size at which it displays on the website. However, every time you save a jpeg file, including uploading to many websites, it loses more information, so it was looking decidedly pixellated when it made it to Twitter.

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

Final score: Ossett Town 3 Prescot Cables 1 (Grundy)

200 up

The Blogger dashboard tells me this is my 200th post on these pages, which started as photo hints and tips. There are only so many of those, so now I write more about following football at the level of the National Game. Not that I attempt match reports: I tried taking notes when Prescot Cables were without a Press Officer, but it was just as well someone stepped forward, as my reports would have been somewhat mechanical. So, I comment on the pictures, and "a funny thing happened on the way to the match". That is easier about away games: we only visit once a year, so there is usually something new, whereas at home, it is only a couple of weeks since we were last there. All human life is on the 10A bus, but it is often the same life coming round again.

Sometimes I have ideas of material before the game that does not survive events. The visit of Ossett Town was on the feast of Sts Crispin and Crispinian, so I could use a few lines from Henry V - it refers to the French, but Yorkshire made a good job of the 'Appen-it's-Grand Départ for the Tour de France, so it is the next best thing. That would have required a win to carry it off, and hopes were high after the win at Salford last week.

This was deflated after a few minutes, when Jonah O'Reilly dealt with an incoming ball, but unfortunately sent it in the one direction we did not want it to go. Sadly, this was to determine the result of the game, as on the whole we defended quite well.

Ciaran Gibson keeps his fellow Yorkshiremen at bay

The match report on the Ossett Town website referred to our putting the ball in the net in the first half, which had me confused, until I remembered Jack Phillips rounded the goalkeeper just as the whistle was blown for offside, so, whilst the ball went into the net, it was already out of play by the time it was dispatched there.

Jack Phillips

Neil Prince opted for a more attacking formation for the second half, replacing Andy Griffiths and Jonah O'Reilly with Mason Ryan and himself.

Mason Ryan

During the half, an aeroplane flew over the ground, trailing a banner advertising a designer clothing outlet. They were not advertising it very well, as everyone on the ground misread what it said. Our Chairman, Tony Zeverona, received a call from someone who had seen the aircraft and thought the banner said "Good Luck Prescot Cables". When it appeared over the ground, having seen it through the 300mm lens, I assured Jon the Pharmacologist, reacquainting himself with daylight after completing his PhD thesis a couple of weeks ago, that it said "Something something Prescot Cables". On closer inspection on the computer screen, I realised it said nothing of the sort, However, if we were fooled, I cannot have caused a rush for a late afternoon purchase of designer clothing.

A light aircraft, a banner and a seagull

We thought we had equalised at about 85 minutes, when Liam Dodd found the net, only for the Assistant Referee to flag for a strongly disputed offside.

Liam Dodd

The pharmacologists are nothing if not scientific, and James, who has refereed in the County Premier League, explained in response to this decision that he often judged offside by looking to see who is in an offside position, and listen for the ball being played. The speeds of sound and light came up, which the assembled group did not think would make much of a difference. As I am nothing if not a pedant, I shall look at the point in a future post - there will be sums, and possibly diagrams.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 0, Ossett Town 1

Watch the water roll down the drain

Features of life in a northern town, particularly in the West Riding, include hills and somewhat inclement weather. The Met Office app had been predicting dry weather, with the possibility of a little sun, for Prescot Cables' visit to Ossett Town. I was less convinced when I got to Huddersfield to change trains in heavy rain, but the hills can often trap weather, with something completely different on the other side. This seemed borne out on arrival in Dewsbury, with the sky looking considerably lighter and drier above the hills between there and Ossett.

Rob Doran, scorer of Prescot's goal

Our train crew was depleted by staff shortages, with only me making the journey by rail. Fortunately, Richie, our leader in beer and pub choices, still led in this aspect, as he had posted what was to be our planned pub online, the Leggers Inn. It seemed a shame to waste the recommendation, so I took some refreshment before catching the bus to Ossett.

At the ground the promise of dry weather had not been entirely fulfilled, as there was a downpour shortly before I arrived, which caused concern for a couple of areas of the pitch. Fortunately, most of the water indeed rolled down the drain (with assistance from some of the club officials), allowing the referee to pass it as fit, even without a trip to the B&Q opposite for a bag of sand.

The cheerful young gentlemen running the tea bar seemed aware of the hazard that not many people will purchase, wiping out any profits with wasted stock. Orders for a burger resulted in one being taken out of the freezer, and therefore a wait for the finished product. However, they had some chips on the go, so I ordered a portion, with some pleasantly fruity curry sauce.

Fortunately we were attacking the bus station end in the first half, so I could take advantage of the seats whilst the light was good enough for pictures from behind the goal. This provides a good low camera position, and the chance to eat my chips between attacks (remember - food before photos).

Jordan Shirley

The low angle works well for close up shots too, providing I avoid getting the perimeter fence in view.

Isaac Kusoloka

Despite being in position for some good pictures, Mr Google thought one could do with improvement. Here is James McCulloch going for a header.

An automated process called Google Awesome thought it might be better with some snow.

"Awesome" was probably not the word I would have chosen. Besides, if I want pictures of our players performing in precipitation, I have chances to get them myself.

The floodlights augmented the natural light for most of the first half, and, as usual, for the second it was a case of finding the location with the best light, which seemed to be the side. Ossett have a pylon on each corner and one on each end of the half way line, with 5 heads on each, although the situation was complicated by some bulbs being out: I suspect it is quite difficult to change them, as the pylons do not fold down, and four of them are mobile phone masts (as this is Yorkshire, I hope one is from EE).

Given the good location in the first half and the complexities of lighting in the second, the final collection was more weighted towards the first than usual, with only 11 frames (of 60, if you do not count the snow scene) making it in from the second.

Sean Breen

When in Ossett, it is rude not to visit the Brewery Tap, so I adjourned there after the match to warm up in front of their wood fire, and for a pint of Ossett Brewery's Nervous Turkey. Most seasonal beers for December are dark winter warmers, but this is a light beer, just right to go with the industrial quantities of white meat one usually finds oneself eating at this time of year.

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

Final score: Ossett Town 2 Prescot Cables 1 (Doran)

Back so soon?

It is not unusual for a fixture from the end of one season to become one of the first the following year. So it was with Prescot Cables first game of the season, at home to Ossett Town, our visitors for our last league game in May.

On my way to my pre match refreshment, I was crossing the road, negotiating stationary traffic at a temporary traffic light, when a loud beeping started to emerge from one of the cars. Thinking it was someone exasperated at the time it was taking to get past the roadworks (I would have got off the bus at the previous stop if I had known), I concentrated on the moving traffic in the opposite direction. When I got to the other side of the road, the driver finally attracted my attention with a cheery wave. Regular Cables supporters will not be surprised to learn the noise was coming from stalwart supporter Harry Thomas.

At the ground, I found a team all of whose members I had seen play at least once, which happens less often than you might think: it is common to see new players who have suddenly become available. The team were wearing a new kit, darker than in previous seasons (our traditional colour is amber rather than yellow), with black shoulders and sleeves. I am not sure how this will affect my exposures under floodlights, but the amber stood out well in the wet, and towards the end, quite murky, conditions, which is a good sign.

James McCulloch in the new kit, with Ryan Eislet in the background

We also have numbers on the front of the shirts, which will make the task of announcers and match secretaries easier in identifying scorers, substitutions etc. To make my task easier, it needs to catch on, and for other clubs to start doing it. When you set up a five man wall, it is handy for the woman who does the match reports on the Lincolnshire Poacher Numbers Station too

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Our goalkeeper, Ciaran Gibson, who had previously been picked to represent England schoolboys at under 18 level, was making his first league appearance, having looked promising in pre season.

Ciaran Gibson

When Ossett scored after a few minutes, it looked as though we may start the season as we finished the last one when our visitors took home the points. Step forward Dave Dempsey. We retain Dave for his defensive abilities, so anything he is able to put away is a bonus: the question at the pre season game against West Didsbury and Chorlton was whether he had scored his second career goal, or whether Connor McCarthy had completed the finish.

There was to be no doubt for either player on this occasion, as they both made unequivocal contributions to the score sheet. Dave Dempsey was first, sending a free kick directly to goal. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture, as I was shooting straight into the wind and rain (at least it was warm wind and rain), so keeping the lens dry was the main preoccupation.

Connor McCarthy was the next to score, in the second half. As it was still raining, I decided to go under cover. This meant I was capturing the same side of our play in both halves, so I found I had very little of  the players, particularly Connor, who were playing on the other side. Still, if you are only going to capture a couple of pictures of a player, when he is scoring a goal is the best one to get.

Connor McCarthy shoots for Prescot's second goal

With Ossett having drawn level again, it was time for another addition to Dave Dempsey's goal tally. Sean Myler was brought down...

... so up stepped Dave for the free kick. The Ossett player in the background is on the half way line, giving us an idea how far out the the kick was taken.

Goalkeeper Thomas Taylor can only watch as it goes in.

I sent the pictures of both goals in for the Merseymart, but unfortunately they did not use one of mine this week: their feature picture on the sports page was a rather good boxing image.

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

It is a team game and all have played their part

I remember reading a reminiscence from a colleague of the late FIFA President, Sir Stanley Rous from when he was a school teacher in Watford. The writer was refereeing in a games lesson when a boy congratulated a team mate who had just scored. "Caution that boy," Rous ordered, "it is a team game, and all have played their part". That could be a fair summation of Prescot Cables' season, which we completed at home to Ossett Town at the weekend.

Not having a playing budget means that players may be tempted by clubs who can afford to pay, or may find they cannot afford to maintain training and travel commitments without any expenses. We have used 69 players this season, the highest for some years, although not as high as you may think, the average for the last few seasons has been in the fifties.

Team game or no, the records tell us who scored the goals, so the first mention should go to Jon Bathurst, the top scorer for the season with 11 goals, which includes having to take a break of some weeks in the middle of the season to rest a recurring injury.

Jon Bathurst

Good strikers are hard to come by, as they are often snapped up by teams that can afford to pay high wages. To illustrate the point that it is a team game, Jon was one of 21 of our players to find the net this season.

Like most clubs, we have awards at the end of the season. I missed this year's presentation, as I was in London - as Dulwich Hamlet manager Gavin Rose rightly pointed out to his players, championships do not come round very often, so you should enjoy them when they do. That weekend could have been the nightmare scenario, having to choose between watching Dulwich needing a result to clinch the championship and Prescot needing a result to avoid relegation. It became apparent during March that the latter was unlikely, and the theoretical possibility was removed with the emergency extension of the EvoStik League season.

Our players of the year, all playing on Saturday, were James McCulloch (Players' and Supporters)...

James McCulloch

... Ged Murphy (Manager's), also the player with the most appearances for the season ...

Richie and Frank watch Ged Murphy take a free kick. James considers the implications of Pontefract Collieries' 10th goal at Askern Villa

... and a new award this year, Young Player - looking at the ages of the players in the programme, chosen from quite a large pool - Jack Webb.

Jack Webb

These players have all made more than 30 appearances over the season, but those who have only appeared a small number of times played their part: those who helped us get a team together to start competing back in August ...

Alejandro Barba San Felipe and Gary Williams playing at Goole

... those who played a few games in mid season ...

Max Fargin in action at Ramsbottom

... and those who have recently joined us, such as Lee Novak, replacing Adam Reid in goal for the last two games, as Adam's contract with Altrincham, and therefore his loan, only ran to the original end of the season.

Lee Novak

The final score of 2-1 to Ossett Town meant we finished 17th, one place below last year, but with more points. After a steady start to the season, being 3 points off point per game form at the end of November, we had a disappointing December and January, where some good performances did not yield results. A run of good results in March and April, with a couple of upsets for those challenging for playoff places, made safety assured with 3 or 4 weeks to go.

This year's team has been one of those I have most enjoyed watching over the years. The defining ethos that Dave Powell has instilled in the team this year has been always to maintain concentration to the final whistle. For a few seasons we have often succumbed to late goals: this season we have been scoring them, from the last minute equaliser at home to Harrogate Railway Athletic, or the last minute grab of all three points at Wakefield, through to the two against Ossett Albion last week. I cannot recall a game this season where the team has lacked energy and commitment.

It has also been a good season to be watching Cables away too: the Train Crew, which started last season when a couple of people going to a game by train arranged to meet, has produced a stream of hardy travellers, mainly people who have not previously been to away games, with good turnouts for Clitheroe and Mossley.

Some of the Train Crew at Trafford

Those who have been following the troubles we have had with the pitch will not be surprised that the areas where we had an issue with mud are, after some dry weather, now somewhat dusty, as you can see in the picture of James McCulloch above. The club have launched "Supporters on the Pitch", where supporters and local companies can pay £20 to "purchase" a square of the pitch to raise money towards sanding, vertidraining, levelling and seeding the over the summer. Dave Powell has purchased the home dugout, and coach Warren Jones has purchased a spot in front of goal at the Safari Park End. We of course also need something that money cannot buy, the right combination of sun and rain to make sure the new seed beds in and grows.

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