Over 'ere son, on me 'ead

I take ONE weekend away ...

Since my last Prescot Cables post, we have had a change of manager, with the previous incumbent departing for the snouting velvet dingles of Cantilever Park to take charge of Warrington Town, and bring League football to the town.Warrington acted with considerable speed: having announced the dismissal of Joey Dunn on Monday 20th March, they received over 40 applications, sifted them and announced an appointment shortly after the post arrived on the closing day the following Monday.

Stepping in to the caretaker role at Prescot is someone who needs no introduction, Joe Gibiliru Senior, who my friend Roger pointed out as one of our best players when I first started watching the club in 1991. Shortly afterwards, Joe was appointed for his first spell as Manager.

Club President George Hayward welcomes Joe Gibiliru Snr back to the dugout

Prescot were entertaining Lancaster City, having captured a point at Witton Albion, in the first game of Joe's stewardship, in midweek.

I was once watching a game at North Ferriby, where the home manager was loudly instructing his team, "Head the BALL, head the BALL". The emphasis on the word "ball" was such that I thought he may have been concerned a stout Yorkshire cranium was about to be applied to downing a passing pigeon. From the photographer's point of view, this is welcome advice, as getting a head to the ball is good for a photo when it works, although using the head for freelance pest control in mid game may provide an interesting image as well.

Prescot very rarely outrank their opposition for height, so we sometimes come off second best in the air. We have some exceptions, such as Stuart McMullen, who joined us before Christmas.

Stuart McMullen

This is one of the classic shots of a header, the player making a big jump to get to the ball. Sometimes of course, the player hardly needs to leave the ground, as here.

Chris Rowntree

Another classic header shot is of the player rising above the players around, such as here.

Michael Grogan

Having the player taking the header with other playes in close proximity is very handy, as the feet of the players on the ground give a natural lower edge for the picture to show how high the player is jumping, with the ball forming the natural upper edge. I was looking for an example of a header without other players to prodvide a point of reference, and realised that they hardly ever make it in to the collection.

Better still are two players are in the air, going for the ball, as here.

John Couch

You will see that in many cases, the ball is not particularly close the the player's head. I do not always have the best of reflexes, and, unlike a player making a run, the header is a single contact, so if I catch the player's head making contact with the ball, it is sometimes more by luck than judgment. The SLR, with its mirror that rises to allow the light through to the sensor provides instant feedback - if you see the moment of contact, then you have not captured it.

The momentary nature of the header means that a lot of pictures end up in the bin.

James McCulloch

This one has everything - James McCulloch rising above his marker to head the ball, Ashley Ruane getting into position to receive the ball, and even a dark background for contrast. The fatal flaw of course is that the ball is just out of frame.

Prescot were unable to repeat their result from midweek, and lost 1-0. Meanwhile, numbers were coming in from Durham - 5, 6, and finally the end result. Durham City 7 Warrington Town 1.

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