At least we did not need the points

There was a good turnout for Prescot Cables' final game of the season at Padiham, with the coach fully booked, eleven of us on our train with others following later. A couple of our party were making their first away trips, Dan, a regular attender at home games, and Thom, on placement from university in Nijmegen. Thom is working with Dr Jon, who thought that, in addition to places he plans to visit during his stay, such as London, Oxford and Cambridge, he might have an interesting experience if he were to visit somewhere less well known. Padiham is not well known even a short distance away: when we rang for taxis in Burnley, the person in the office claimed not to have heard of it.

Richie, our leader in beer and pub choices, was unable to join us, and would have disapproved of some of our beer, although the establishments in which we consumed them were pleasant enough. The entries on WhatPub were a bit dated: one pub was listed as serving cask ales, but looked as though it had lacked the facility to do so for some time. At least the Hare and Hounds had an excellent range.

The end of the season is a time for reflection, completing a journey that started being chewed by mosquitoes on a wet July day in Coppull. Neil Prince had to put together a team more or less from scratch over the summer. Not many from that day were still with us: Neil Prince himself, James McCulloch, starting a third century of appearances, and the reliable Joe Evans.

Joe Evans

Matty West has rejoined the side in the last few games.

Matty West

Sam Corlett deserves a mention too, he joined us in the second pre season game, and has been with us ever since.

Sam Corlett

We tried a couple of players from our excellent youth team, who did not falter when the call came later, with Ben Morrow being a fixture in goal for the last two months ...

Ben Morrow

... and Andy Harper making himself a first choice for his position since being called up to the first team over Christmas.

Andy Harper

We have had a young team: seven or eight games in I realised I had been watching the club since before most players on the pitch had been born. A substitute warming up at that first pre season game was among their number, although older than I first thought, having played in the Wigan Athletic Academy before being released in May last year.

Our first sight of Jack Phillips

I would not see him warming up very often again unless I arrived early, as he made an instant claim for a start, with a good line in nimbly outwitting much larger players.

Three quarters of those released by academies never play again, and many who try to carry on do not last very long. The transition from football as a full time occupation to combining it with work or education must be quite challenging: Jack has been one of the best I have seen at managing it. I have not talked to him his university course, but on the field he was the season's top scorer, and made a well deserved clean sweep of the Supporters', Manager's and Players' Player of the Year awards.

Jack sends a defender the other way

Amidst all this reminiscing, there was a game we were actually attending.

Er, not that one - that was the cricket next door. A six was not without its risks.

Howzat!

As for our game: we had secured what we needed, and the hosts were determined to leave the league on a high note, which they did, with a 4-0 win including a hat trick from former Cables player Daley Woods.

After the game, some left quickly to get back in time for the club's presentation evening. This included Dr Phil, which confused the remaining pharmacologists, who try not to leave one of their number behind on their travels.

A lot of us have an interest in more than one team, and life is easier if they do not play each other. At least our finishing clear of the relegation positions meant East Grinstead Town were not competing with Prescot for a reprieve from relegation. As for Dulwich Hamlet, the FA are still consulting the entrails regarding a points deduction for an ineligible player fielded by Enfield Town in January, which affects whether they finished in a play off place, resulting in Dulwich's semi final at Margate being postponed with less than 48 hours' notice.

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

Final score: Padiham 4 Prescot Cables 0.

Five goals and a shin pad

Prescot Cables' game against Padiham at the weekend was one we had to win. Our visitors have not had a good start to the season, and are below us in the table, and we needed to end a string of defeats.

I continued my experiment from the previous week of working without a lens filter. I did not see any dramatic changes: the pictures seemed a bit washed out straight off the camera, but it was an overcast day, so that was only to be expected, and enhancing the lighting on the computer sorted that out. With five goals for us and one for the opposition, I did not do very well capturing them, but that will not have been down to filters.

Mason Ryan wasted no time in opening the scoring: not only I not capture the goal, I did not get a decent picture of him until some minutes later.

Mason Ryan

Next, Jack Phillips, of whom more later, was brought down for a penalty. Rob Doran stepped up to take it with his usual unflappable demeanour

Rob Doran prepares to take a penalty

The need for a second goal of which Neil Prince spoke a couple of weeks ago became apparent at the beginning of the second half, when we conceded a penalty, converted by former Blackpool, Southampton and Preston North End player Brett Ormerod. The game remained fairly even until Neil Prince brought on Sam Corlett and himself. A ball from Sam found Jack Phillips who shot from just outside the area. I was in front of the tea bar, and in the wrong position to catch this - a three quarter shot from behind only works if you can see what the player is aiming at (particularly the goalkeeper preparing for a save).

Jack was also involved in a You are the Ref moment, when he lost a shin pad, and naturally carried on playing. I understand the problem keeping them in place, I can walk 100 yards to the bus stop in long socks and wonder why I have cold ankles when I get there, although I do not wear shin pads, even on the 10A. The assistant referee flagged vigorously, explaining, to the mirth of those in earshot, that it was an indirect free kick for attempting to play the ball whilst not wearing the correct equipment. The referee did not look convinced, but restarted play in this manner, whilst Jack retrieved the offending shin pad. I trotted off to consult my refereeing pharmacologist friend James, who was standing behind the goal. The light was good enough to get a few pictures whilst I was there.

Sam Corlett

He had not noticed what the free kick was for, and thought it was like a question on the referees' examinations. Technology puts the Laws of the Game a couple of taps away, so we consulted. The only related free kick is for failing to leave the field to rectify equipment when instructed to do so or continuing to wear unauthorised clothing after being instructed to remove it: for missing items, play need not be stopped. However, if a player is instructed to leave the field in a break in play, he is out of action until the next break, unlike treatment for an injury, where the referee can permit him to return as soon as play has restarted.

Jack Phillips

It is often said that when your luck is out, it is properly out, and this was the case for the visitors, when they conceded an own goal. I do not as a rule include pictures in that situation, I concentrate on our own players (which can include coming off better in a challenge or outwitting the opposition), and dog shots are reserved for opposition players who have been particularly annoying.

In the final kick of the game, Andy Griffiths made the result complete with a long range shot that bounced off the upright and went in.

Andy Griffiths

This was a morale boosting win, opening up a gap over a team below us, and helping with our goal difference, which is significantly better than most of the teams around us. When you and your friends are being pursued by a bear, you do not need to run faster than the bear, you just need to run faster than your friends.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 5 (Ryan, Doran pen, Phillips, Own Goal, Griffiths), Padiham 1

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)

No hat, no picture

The phrase "hat trick" to denote a sporting achievement occurring three times comes from cricket. When one H.H. Stevenson took three wickets in consecutive balls in 1858, his team mates bought him a hat. This seems more practical than the traditional match ball in football: the principle of "bring your own ball" does not apply much above the public park, and you cannot have too many hats, especially if you leave them on public transport at the rate I do.

For the weekend after Christmas, Prescot Cables were entertaining Padiham, whose original incarnation was one of the most successful clubs in Lancashire before they were overshadowed by the teams from the larger towns of Burnley, Blackburn and Preston. They, like us, were members of the Lancashire Combination and founder members of the North West Counties League, but had to drop out of the latter in 1990. Over the last few years have successfully rebuilt, and are playing their first season in the EvoStik League.

The weather was much more pleasant than on Boxing Day, and although the stand blocks out quite a lot of sun by 3pm, some still gets through on to the pitch.

Lewis Coyle goes for a header

The primary purpose of these pictures is to highlight our players at their best. Conceding a free kick does not fit in with that objective, so you do not see many of those minor offences everyone gets up to from time to time. However, when the light is just right and the referee is not looking...

Sean Breen gets to grips with his opponent

The justified man of the match for Prescot was Phil Bannister, with all three goals.

Phil Bannister

The first was announced as an own goal, but the attribution was corrected after Dave Powell gave his opinion that, whilst the defender changed the direction of the ball, it was from heading to the bottom corner of the net to going in to the top. The other two came in the second half, the first when I was not quite in position, and the second I when thought I had time to change a battery. The scorer of a hat trick is a natural subject for a picture for the Merseymart, preferably when scoring one of the goals, but I had to make do with the picture above. So, not only no hat, but not the best of pictures either.

With the sun, there was plenty of natural light well in to the second half, and I delayed my move to the gasworks side. I was rewarded with probably one of the best resolution shots of our own goalkeeper I will probably get all season.

Nick Culkin

I was speaking to Dave Powell after the game - he mentioned that there is a flurry of activity on Twitter when I publish the link to my pictures. That is the idea - if players are tweeting pictures of themselves playing for the club, it builds team spirit, and helps to promote the club amongst their families and friends.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 3 (Bannister 3) Padiham 0