It went downhill when we played uphill

I have never been keen on travelling to Radcliffe Borough. I am quite happy once I get there, they are a cheerful bunch, but any journey crossing central Manchester is a bind. I worked at Salford Quays for 9 years - I enjoyed the job, and would still be there if they had not moved it somewhere cheaper, but the worst part of the day was passing through Manchester city centre and getting the tram, as there seemed to be a problem every day.

Add to this, a lot of students were going home this weekend. Railway companies look to maximize revenue, so I am surprised they do not have armies of staff at this time of year enforcing the National Rail Conditions of Carriage regarding luggage, and turning two or three excess bags per person into Red Star parcels. When I was a student, I did not even own that much stuff.

I got to the game 5 minutes late, having missed the bus, or more to the point the bus having missed me. In the best tradition of Manchester public transport, in Shudehill Bus Station, which is supposed to be one of their main interchanges, the bus that was not due for another 5 minutes came along and blocked the stand, so the 98 just drove past, leaving intending passengers to wait for the next one.

Ian Bennett

When I got in, Prescot were playing downhill. Radcliffe generally make the most of the slope when they win the toss by getting the visitors to play downhill in the first half. We were playing well, but, as has been the case in a few games, unable to convert this into goals. A fully fit goal scorer is at a premium, so if we find one, we would not have him for long, as a club with a larger budget would be able to make an offer, but at our end of the table it would make a big difference over a few games.

When I am cropping a picture, I usually include at least the featured player's head and feet, even at the expense of more space or background clutter. I supplied this picture of Chris Rimmer heading the ball to the Merseymart.

They chose to crop it a bit more like this (as usual, this is not their actual crop they used, this is my rough representation).

At this time of year, I usually take pictures in the second half from the side of the pitch, aiming for the opposite wing to the one I took in the first. On this occasion I did not have the chance to change sides: although Radcliffe's floodlights looked to be amongst the better ones in the division, there were a couple of bulbs out on the clubhouse side, leaving an unusual pattern of bright spots.

James McCulloch

I took up a position between the two dugouts. Radcliffe's choice of ends had the desired effect (for them), as we were unable to recapture the form from the first half, a reverse of something of a pattern for the season.

This position gives a good view of our own goalkeeper. I get a surprising number of shots of our goalkeeper in mid air, rather less include the ball.

Gary Spotswood

In my position, I was able to see the main incident of the second half, Joe Evans being sent off for what the referee described as inappropriate use of the elbow. I did not get a picture, but I am sure Joe's elbow was not raised, and certainly nowhere near their player's face, which he was clutching in a manner that may have been over the top for Gloucester having his eyes put out in King Lear. As  the players involved had their backs to the referee, the position of Joe's arm would have been obscured by the Radcliffe player. It surprised me that the referee did not consult her assistant, who was facing the incident, and did not look willing to offer an opinion, unless he was expecting it to be apparent from the lack of a flag.

Joe Evans

After a game at a ground with a sloping pitch, it was time for post match refreshment in a pub with a sloping floor. I am not imagining these slopes, I did not join the independently travelling supporters for a lunchtime drink: I did not want to travel until I knew the game was on, as my second choice would have been to watch Waterloo. The Marble Arch in Manchester has a slope, dropping 3 or 4 feet from the main door to the bar, and a more conventional couple of steps down to the dining room.

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

German tourists

It is fair to say Prescot does not attract a large number of tourists. Being not far from Liverpool, we occasionally get visitors who have come to watch a professional game, and want to take in a game at a local club as well. We had a visitor from Germany at our home game against New Mills at the weekend, although Michael was not really a tourist, more a returning regular, having watched Cables whilst studying for a PhD at the University of Liverpool. He and a number of other supporters went for a night out in St Helens after the game. I elected not to join them, but I believe they had a good time. I was hoping they would come back with a story of an elderly person, prompted by a German visitor in their midst, regaling them with tales of Bert Trautmann playing for St Helens Town.

He picked the right weekend to travel, as this was the first game on the pitch since the Liverpool Senior Cup, played in very wet conditions in the middle of November. The team were keen to put in a good performance to bounce back from a heavy defeat away to Skelmersdale United in the Doodson Sport Cup in midweek. Being out of all the cup competitions has a silver lining, as it will reduce the use of the pitch (and the electricity consumed by the floodlights) over the winter, that so often makes league cup games a net loss for clubs.

Joe Evans returns from injury

The conditions were those of a proper December day. We started with gloomy light, much of the play being at the other end of the pitch, and two goals conceded. Things started to improve towards half time, with a goal from Jonathon Bathurst at 43 minutes. I have commented before that he often gets goals that are difficult to capture. At least this time I captured Jon with the ball heading for the goal.

Jonathon Bathurst scores Prescot's goal

However, this made it in to the collection on the "goal is a goal" principle - if we look closely, we can see it is a little out of focus, and it did not make into the Merseymart partly for that reason, and partly because there is too much space between player and ball for a print photo.

By this time it was raining, and getting on for sunset, so the grain on the pictures from the low light gave quite a good reflection of the weather.

Jack Webb

It looked as though the rain would continue for the second half, so I put the cover on the camera before taking up a position on the gasworks side (opposite the stand) for what turned out to be a much better second half performance. I do not like using the cover if I do not absolutely have to, as it restricts the movement of my fingers, and the part that fits over the eyepiece has a habit of slipping, meaning I lose sight of the action at the most inconvenient moment.

So, when the rain appeared to be easing off, the cover came off too. Unfortunately, it had not stopped, but turned to a mist, that did not settle on my clothing, but left a wet coating on any hard surfaces, including my glasses, so between cleaning I was having trouble seeing anything, and the wind was blowing a fine mist on the front of the lens. Throw in the floodlights, and some of the pictures took a bit of darkening to recover.

Callum Hoctor

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

Orange mist

When I last went to watch Prescot Cables play away at Clitheroe a couple of years ago, I was looking forward to the views from the castle. Unfortunately, the advertised views were unavailable, due to thick fog. On this occasion, I avoided disappointment, managing my expectations using the Met Office weather forecast pages, which told me there would be more fog, so there was little point making the trip to the top of the hill. Fortunately, the New Inn was available for such eventualities.

Clitheroe Castle

The fog had mostly cleared by kick off, but our supporters generated some of their own. I had been concerned when one supporter said he had obtained some marine distress flares - I had visions of the scenes you see in Germany and Italy, but with supporters being hosed down by the fire brigade as a precaution. I need not have worried, as they were the type that does not give off flames, only smoke. If I were in distress in a marine environment, I would want to make sure the rescue services were in sight before letting one off rather than expecting them to be visible at a distance. I also understand they are lit with a match, which should be interesting in 10' high waves.

"Tricky Robo" makes some smoke - the Clitheroe steward mistook him for an Australian

Unfortunately, the wind was a bit gusty at ground level, so, rather than gently wafting around the ground, most of the smoke blew over the wall.

The game got under way in fairly low light, unlike our recent trips to Yorkshire, and more like we would expect in November. Clitheroe have three floodlight pylons on each side. After about 15 minutes, they switched on the lights on one pylon on each side to add to the natural light, which I have never seen in a match before.

Danny Lambert (Prescot) and Daley Woods (Clitheroe)

Readers with good memories will recognise the Clitheroe player chasing Danny Lambert as Daley Woods, who made a few appearances at the beginning of the 2009-10 season. He left to play for Formby in the North West Counties League, and judging from the match reports seems to have become established at Clitheroe.

The ground has some cover on all 4 sides, allowing the photographer to stay under cover for a range of vantage points, which was handy later when the promised rain arrived. They also have a pitch that slopes from side to side. We can use this as an example of how to use background features to check your picture is level, and make adjustments in cropping if you were holding the camera at an angle. Take this picture of Jack Booth. Here is how it came off the camera, adjusted for lighting.

We can see the slope of the pitch in the background, so levelling the shot with the ground will not work. We can see two fences, one concrete, and behind it a wooden one (best seen if you click on the photo to enlarge). We can see the disadvantage of the wooden fence, these will often slope with the land. The concrete fence, however, is a lot more useful - if this type of fence is not built with the posts vertical and the concrete panels horizontal, the weight of the fence will probably pull it over, so we can usually rely on them, and I have done so here.

In the background of the large picture we can see something else that is useful for lining up - a house. These can usually be relied on to have the walls vertical and the windows horizontal, apart from older houses that have settled into odd shapes over the years. When I moved in to my house, an elderly neighbour who had lived in the street for 50 years advised me not to try striped wallpaper, as they were built 100 years ago on clinker foundations, and the settlement meant I would never be able to line up the paper with all the edges.

One of the principles of this blog is "pies before pictures". Last season, one of our supporters, Richie, as well as finding excellent real ale pubs, ran an informal pie league. Anyone seen eating a pie could expect to be approached to rate filling, pastry, temperature and value for money. It was the last that clinched the title for Clitheroe, ahead of the rather expensive Farsley, with a large tasty pie, excellent gravy and peas for a reasonable £2.20.

Over the years, our teams have, on average, been a bit on the small side: we do not have a pool of industrial sized Yorkshirepersons from which to draw players. This season we have had Chris Rimmer providing a welcome physical presence in defence, and when called upon, further forward. We are not accustomed to seeing one of our players towering over the opposition.

Chris Rimmer uses his height advantage

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

Getting the colours right

We have been fortunate this year with the weather for Prescot Cables' trips to Yorkshire. The most recent, this weekend at Ossett Albion was another such day, grey and wet in Liverpool, but clearing once the train was through the Standedge Tunnel. That part of the journey feels like crossing into Yorkshire: in local government terms it is, although the historic boundary is some miles back, near the Rising Sun in Mossley.

Albion have the more picturesque of the two grounds in Ossett. Their home, in the attractively named Dimple Wells Road, is next to the cricket ground, with views (when the mist stays away) across to Emley Moor and its television transmitter.

Ossett Albion - great television reception

When Ossett Albion announced their shirt sponsorship by the Ossett Brewery, they marketed the Tap as a sort of official away supporters' pub. In the circumstances, it would have been rude not to frequent it, but only after an excellent bacon, black pudding and egg toasted ciabatta (it is called fusion food), washed down with a pint of the excellent Old Slug (no prizes for guessing it is a porter) in the Brewer's Pride.

I was speaking at half time to a chap who was surprised to find that, although I was wearing a yellow and black scarf, I did not support the home team, and was pleased at the coincidence that we play at home in those colours. When you support a team that plays in red or blue, you are familiar with the opposition wearing "your" colour. Yellow or amber is less common, Ossett Albion are the only club in our division who wear the same shade as us, so my first thought was to look at the amber shirts, and think "That's not Ged Murphy", and "Never seen him before", as the teams came out.

Player Assistant Manager Ged Murphy - in the away kit

Once I was focusing on the correct players, we started with low sun shining across the pitch, with the stand and some trees casting a strong shadow. This has been a familiar theme in the last few posts, which I would not have expected at the beginning of the month.

James McCulloch casts a shadow

I even got about 10 minutes of shooting with the sports mode, before the shutter speeds dropped, and I had to go to shutter priority starting at 1/320s. As the sun dropped, the light became colder and whiter.

Jack Booth

A couple of years ago, on a previous visit by Prescot, the BBC shot some scenes for The Making of Arthur, a programme by the Yorkshire writer Simon Armitage about the Arthurian legend. I think Ossett was chosen because it is near one possible site for the Battle of Brunanburh in 937, but on that occasion our supporters were making the noise the film makers were looking for, especially Rod, our regular bugler. Ossett Albion supporters seem to have taken inspiration, as this time they had a group of noisily enthusiastic supporters behind the goal with a couple of instruments. They stayed behind their own goalkeeper for the second half, which seemed odd - back in the Rabble days at Dulwich Hamlet we used to call that a vote of confidence...

Albion have a straightforward floodlight arrangement with 4 pylons on each side, so it was not difficult to find a suitable place to stand, starting the half behind the goal whilst there was still some daylight ...

Callum Hoctor

... and moving to the side after about 15 minutes.

Joe Shelmerdine passes to Danny Lambert

We were disappointed not to score, but a clean sheet meant we came away with a point - and, just as importantly, as Ossett Albion are in the same half of the table as us, they only came away with one and not three.

After some leisurely post match refreshment in the Tap, it was back to Dewsbury, where my friend Nick works at the station, and was surprised to see me passing through. He was encouraging a group of drunks to leave at the time - the Transpennine Rail Ale Trail has rather outgrown its target market, particularly on Saturdays, and groups regarding it as an ordinary pub crawl are causing some problems for the railway and the Police.

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

The maîtres d'hôtel know me well and let me sign the bill

"Adult?" asked the gate man as my friend Christian went through ahead of me. I met Christian 20 years ago, as part of a young and noisy support to be found behind the goal Dulwich Hamlet were attacking, known to all as "the rabble". Now in his thirties, he has been fortunate to retain a youthful appearance, augmented with a neatly trimmed greying beard, so we were unsure whether he was being invited to consider applying for a discount as a young person or senior citizen.

There are a couple of clubs where I thought of a line from a poem as a title for a post, and work through for more surreal titles when I visit again. So Warrington Town gets Under Milk Wood, and Burgess Hill Town gets John Betjeman's Executive with its reference to every roadside hostelry from here to Burgess Hill. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not known to any maîtres d'hôtel, and the only bit of the bill I get to sign is where it says "please charge my card".

I attended Dulwich Hamlet's last game of last season at Burgess Hill, in which we were seeking to secure promotion, and they to avoid relegation. They were successful, we were not, so, by coincidence, my first Dulwich game of this season was at the same location. As last year, this was late in the season: having steered clear of London during the Olympics, a couple of things kept me away for longer. I think we are now allowed to use the words London and Olympics in the same blog post, and the organising committee have not copyrighted them for all eternity, in the same way the Canadians can sing their national anthem after the Vancouver Winter Games let go of the words "glorious and free".

Peter Adeniyi

The game started in the conditions of a proper autumn day, overcast and having rained earlier. Finding the sports mode was offering speeds that were too slow, I went to shutter priority. Both sides had a substantial amount of dark colour in their kit. Indeed, in some competitions, Dulwich's dark blue and Burgess Hill's black would be considered a clash of socks, hindering the referee in identifying whose feet were in which position in a tackle.

Since my last visit, Burgess Hill have changed their main colour from yellow to green, not a choice I would have made in a ground bordered on two sides with conifers, I can see players blending in to the background on a wet Saturday afternoon in January.

The Burgess Hill kit, sported by an unnamed player - numbers on the front, you know it makes sense

It takes about 5 or 6 appearances for me to recognise players, so being an irregular attender at Dulwich games, I have the best chance with those who have been in the team for the last couple of years, like Nyren Clunis, here being closely watched by Mishi and Liam from the committee.

There are some new players I can recognise quickly, as they are popular with the terraces. One such is Erhun Öztümer, who has joined us on returning home to London after playing professionally in Turkey. Recognition is aided by his being our penalty taker: reports suggest we have been good at drawing defenders into committing fouls in the penalty area. Most people think he will be snapped up by a club at a higher level before long, but are enjoying his play, and goals, whilst he is with us.

Erhun Öztümer

By the second half, the clouds had cleared, giving a fine autumn sunset on the deciduous trees behind the conifers.

Once the sun had gone down, I did not get many shots, as Burgess Hill have an arrangement of lights with two pylons along each side (not on the corners). This is the same arrangement as Warrington Town, and, although the light did seem a bit brighter than at Warrington, it was still even without the bright spots that are helpful for those of us working with consumer kit.

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

Senior moments

The main attraction of the Liverpool Senior Cup to a club like Prescot Cables was drawing Liverpool or Everton at home, which would attract a crowd often over 1000, and much needed revenue. With less than 20 clubs in the competition, this was a realistic prospect.

The likelihood was halved last year, when Liverpool pulled out of the competition that provided their first silverware in 1893 in favour of a European youth tournament. Not that it stopped some morale boosting heroics, with the lads beating Skelmersdale United, losing to Southport on penalties, being reinstated as Southport fielded an ineligible player, and taking the game against Tranmere Rovers to penalties at Prenton Park.

Sadly there was to be no repeat this year when we entertained Skelmersdale United. I was surprised the game was taking place at all, as rain during the afternoon, falling on an already wet pitch, had made the conditions difficult. Indeed, a League game may have been postponed, but as a County Cup game, all parties would have been keen to get the game out of the way.

Steve Kelly

The game saw a welcome start in defence for Steve Kelly, after a long layoff due to injury.

A home game against Skelmersdale United is something with which this column is very familiar, so there were no unusual challenges. The conditions were never going to make for a classic game, or for that matter classic photos, although I was able to get a reasonable slideshow.

Given that some of the wetter areas of the pitch were, as was only to be expected, in the goal areas, both goalkeepers, or at least their shirts, seemed to remain remarkably free of mud.

Andy Moor

Davidson Banda makes a run towards goal

That we are able to play at all on a pich that has always had difficult underlying ground is a tribute to the hard work put in by Doug Lace, our Club Secretary and Groundsman, and those who assist him. Doug was recently voted Knowsley Council's Sports Volunteer of the Year, a thoroughly well deserved award.

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

Wakey Wakey

Prescot Cables' trips to Yorkshire for the county's excellent real ales and, hopefully, a point or three, seem to be coming thick and fast. The public houses of Goole, Ossett and Garforth have taken revenue from the small but select band of Cables public transport users. Well, not Garforth, that was just me, and I took my refreshment in Leeds.

The rail travelling supporters watch Luke Edwards take a high ball

Last weekend was the turn of Wakefield, travelling out via Sheffield, where we learnt the Sheffield Tap's ban (I assume on Police advice) on football shirts extends to bar scarves and Cornish rugby union shirts. Fortunately I had a plain t-shirt underneath, and a bag for the offending items. They could have been challenging my right to wear the latter garment: I claim through my grandmother, who I know was born somewhere near the Tamar, but, as she died before I was born, I have never completely established which side.

After this, it was off to Wakefield, and the Bull & Fairhouse, the tap for the Great Heck Brewery, a couple of junctions along the M62. My first pint was chosen for the name.

Well, it would have been rude not to.

Wakefield continue their peripatetic existence, being back at Belle Vue, in the town of their name, if not their foundation. Spectators could access all sides, often not the case when a ground belonging to a larger club in another sport is used for a game at our level.

Jonathon Bathurst - play is overlooked by the bar

The first half presented a lighting challenge - low winter sun, behind three or four terraced streets giving an uneven shadow, and against a reflective bright blue base to the main stand. At this time of year, I try to stand in the sun for some warmth, but this time it was too bright, so I had to wrap up and take to the shade. The things I do for a picture.

Davidson Banda

Access to the toilets was through the bar. This is a problem on a cold day: taking the camera into a warm bar, full of people breathing (I would be less than keen to go in if they were not) is a recipe for condensation, the inside of the lens will steam up like a pair of glasses, but will not clear as quickly, affecting the pictures for the second half, and, in extreme cases, damaging the equipment. I was saved from having to put it in the bag by Jack Webb's father kindly, if nervously, agreeing to hold the camera while I went inside.

Jack Webb

A number of clubs in the lower half of our division, including us, have a better record away than at home. Wakefield are the most extreme, with near play off form away, and yet to gain a point at home. There was a risk this would be reversed when Wakefield scored, but as the second half wore on, they were clearly flagging. I did not capture either of Prescot's goals, although I caught Danny Lambert celebrating his.

Danny Lambert celebrates scoring

I thought the quality of the image may not have been sufficient for print. I think the Echo may have agreed, as they went for one that looks spectacular instead: this shot of a cross by Anthony Shinks.

Anthony Shinks

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

Last of the summer light

This weekend saw the last of the afternoon games before the clocks go back, not a guarantee of good light, but we know from next week it will be dark towards the end of the game. Prescot Cables' game at home to Harrogate Railway Athletic saw a welcome, if chilly, clear day, which gave a strong light from the side across the pitch with some deep shadows.

Callum Hoctor shields his eyes from the sun

For about three quarters of our home games, we play towards the Safari Park End (i.e. away from the entrance to the ground) in the first half, as we almost always choose that direction, and about half the visiting teams choose to play towards the Hope Street end. This is better for me because of the way the sun moves round the ground during the game, particularly at this time of year when it is low in the sky.

The game started promisingly for Prescot, with a goal after 2 minutes from Jonathon Bathurst. This is the second week in a row Jon has scored a goal, and I have not got a picture. The most difficult type of goal to capture is when a player gets on the end of a cross and whips it in before the goalkeeper has chance to react. Professionals at the top level will often have an unattended camera on a tripod behind the goal, continuously shooting when anyone is near. I do not have the spare equipment for that, and placing it on the terraces would present a tripping hazard for fellow spectators, and indeed they would present a tripping hazard to the kit.

Jonathon Bathurst

I sometimes wonder whether the quality of the play on offer affects the quality of the pictures that result.

After the goal, the performance was described in the report by our Press Officer, Richard Quinn, as "error strewn", which applied to both teams, but probably more to us. I tend to be snapping away when players are making runs or competing for the ball in the opposition's half, so when the game is mainly in our half, and dominated by errors, I found myself with about a quarter less exposures than normal by the end of the game, although, as that is still in the hundreds, I was still able to produce a slide show of the normal size of about 60 pictures.

The players' profiles were updated in the programme for this game, to include those who had joined since the start of the season. I had not realised how young the team is, with most being between 19 and 22. Having a group of young players keen to see how far they are able to go in the game has given us a team that is the best I have seen for some time for playing to the final whistle.

This game was a case in point - Harrogate scored at 75 and 81 minutes, and it would have been easy to accept the points had been lost. Not so with this team, with an equaliser coming from Jack Webb in the last minute of injury time. I captured this one, thus ensuring Jack a second week on the back page of the Merseymart.

Jack Webb controls the ball ...

... and shoots for goal

I have never been a fan of Haloween, it had not reached the church going countryside when I was growing up, and I have never seen the point of it since, but some decided to join in the fun.

Actually, the skeletons appeared not long before our equaliser, so they may have had the effect of scaring play into the Harrogate half!

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

Blind as Captain Cat

I have always had a spot of bother seeing in the dark. Before buses got LED destination displays, and relied on a canvas blind, I was almost being run over before I knew where the bus was going. It gets worse as you get older, at some point between 40 and 50, you notice that light perfectly suitable for reading a couple of years ago no longer works, no matter how much adjustment of glasses and holding the paper at arm's length you do. There are some grounds with a low, even light, close to the average lux value across the pitch, where I start to wonder how they can see to play football out there.

This week saw Prescot play away at Warrington Town, one of the more difficult photographic locations, as we saw last season. On this occasion, we were the team in the less camera friendly kit.

Warrington's goalkeeper saves from James McCulloch

I decided to stick with my 70-300mm f4.5-.6 lens instead of switching to the 50mm f1.4 - on the basis that what you gain on the swings of aperture, you lose on the roundabouts of range and the proportion of the image taken up by the action. I only changed to the shorter lens at the end of the game when I went behind the goal to make a quick getaway at the final whistle.

Ged Murphy goes for a header

This meant that, not only did I have a limited range of images from which to choose for the slide show, but only really featured those of our players on the left. Although I took a position on the right side of the pitch for the second half, I met with even less success capturing images there.

We also had some unwanted light during the first half, as an idiot was shining a laser pen on to the pitch from the Cantilever Bridge behind the ground. Fortunately it did not catch any of the players, officials or spectators in the eyes.

One thing had me reaching for the Laws of the Game. I remembered something about "the goalkeeper's clothing shall be distinguished from that of the other players and the referee"...

... and wondered if there was any guidance on whether a number on the back and an advert on the front was what they had in mind. The wording is more specific these days - "Each goalkeeper shall wear colours that distinguish him from the other players, the referee and the assistant referees".

A couple of quick opening goals from Warrington sealed the result, despite a battling Prescot performance for the rest of the game. The match report on their website referred to the result as sweet revenge for their manager, Shaun Reid. I am not sure how revenge comes into it, when Mr Reid left us of his own accord after 8 games for the opportunity to take Warrington into the Football League.

After the game, I was keen to catch a bus back to town. A group had come over on the train, and with our principal guide, Richie, on holiday, and therefore unable to keep us on the straight and narrow with our pub and beer choices, we ended up in a rather dodgy establishment on the way out, so I was keen to make it to the Lower Angel to have a quick one of something decent before it was time to catch the train back.

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

The possum is flying solo

Last season, a group of Prescot Cables supporters enjoyed a day out at Garforth Town. A trip on the train, cans of nasty lager for those preferring quantity to quality, and Yorkshire real ales for the more discerning of us.

Unfortunately, the tourist attractions of Garforth are limited, to the degree that many people will be tempted to visit just once, and so it proved on this occasion. Alternative destinations for last year's party included New York and Macclesfield (for Marine's unsuccessful attempt to reach the First Round Proper of the FA Cup), leaving just me travelling by train. Not that I spent much time in Garforth, taking a detour on the way to Kirkstall Abbey, where they had a party in mediaeval costumes wandering round posing for wedding pictures - I did not ascertain whether they had married in the costumes, or indeed in the Abbey ruins.

Given my comments on Samson in my last post, I was a little alarmed when I arrived at the ground, and spotted Liam Hollett sporting a rather severe haircut.

Liam Hollett assesses the options for a free kick

I need not have worried, as this was to be one of our more successful afternoons. Garforth appear to be in somewhat reduced circumstances since our last visit, having gained only two points from the first 11 games of the season. After a few barren games, it is good to have the chance to be talking about the best way to take pictures of goals. The first of the afternoon was from Glyn Barker.

Here is how I thought the photo of Glyn shooting for goal should look when I was cropping pictures for the slide show, showing pressure from Garforth's Craig Maynard approaching from the side.

Glyn Barker scores goal no 1

A couple of hours later, when I cropped the pictures to send in to the Echo for the Merseymart (for which I start from scratch with the original photo from the camera), I had clearly decided that this was a better crop, concentrating on Glyn alone.

An alternative view of goal no 1

The cropping for the second goal, from Jack Webb, was more clear cut, with Jack beating Craig Maynard again.

Jack Webb shoots for goal no 2

I did not get a decent shot of the third goal, also from Glyn Barker, or the fourth, from Jonathon Bathurst, although in both cases I captured the cross from Max Fargin that led to the goal, here avoiding the attentions of the rather busy Craig Maynard.

Max Fargin crosses for Jonathon Bathurst to score goal no 4

As Jonathon was a late substitution, at about 75 minutes, although I got a couple of action shots for the slide show, I was not particularly happy with them, and as a goal scorer deserves a picture, here is one from the half time warm up.

Jonathon Bathurst

This was a good win, which will have boosted confidence - realistically Garforth  are one of the clubs with whom we are competing to avoid relegation, so it was good to see them confidently dispatched, 4-1, which, coincidentally, is the average number of goals against and for Garforth so far this season.

After that, I took the bus to Leeds, as the route goes past the Fox & Newt, close enough to the centre to be convenient, but far enough out to avoid a hectic city centre Saturday evening. However, I did not examine the timetable closely enough, and caught one that only ran as far as the centre, so I tried the Grove, to the south of Leeds station, tucked away behind Yorkshire's tallest building. Their concert room at the back has bands most nights, but earlier in the evening, before the band arrives, provides the ideal oasis for a quiet post match pint.

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