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.

The valley of the rams

Last Friday, England played San Marino at Wembley. I have been to San Marino, when Dulwich Hamlet Supporters played in a tournament in Rimini, the nearest town in Italy. I bought a shirt as a souvenir, and was planning to wear it to Prescot's game away to Ramsbottom United if San Marino had scored a goal. As they did not, it stayed in the cupboard.

The town of Ramsbottom is about half the size of the Republic of San Marino. The town is in the valley rather than on the hill, and they only have one tower on top of their hill, rather than San Marino's three.

Peel Monument, Ramsbottom

The three fortress towers of San Marino represented on their shirt

Ramsbottom also has a church that started life in the Church of Scotland, but was removed from that denomination following a dispute, and is now part of the Church of England. The tower has pinnacles straight out of Gotham - if they do not have bats in their belfry, I want to know why.

St Andrew's Church

Ramsbottom United's ground is next to the East Lancashire Railway, so a few supporters were looking forward to going to the game by steam train. I had been there when we were in the North West Counties League, so I was looking forward to getting some pictures of the action with a train puffing away behind. We were thwarted, as it was the weekend of the railway's Diesel gala. Fortunately the Railway's Trackside bar at their Bury Bolton Street Station operates regardless of the traction, so we obtained suitable refreshment there, and at the Irwell Works Brewery Tap in Ramsbottom.

I would not have got my photos anyway, as the trees at the railway end had grown in the last 10 years, and now blocked the view of the trains. Whether they now suffer from wet leaves on the line is not recorded.

Stephen Longrigg

In the first half, the sky was fairly overcast, giving an even light, but the trees were to cause more than a little bother when the sun came out in the second half.

They cast a shadow up to about the half way line, so most of the action in Ramsbottom's half was in shadow. This is not a problem in itself, unless the background provided by the other half is in bright sunlight, not dissimilar to the problem when Prescot played a post season friendly at Goodison Park. Take this example, with Anthony Shinks. This is how the shot came off the camera.

I was a surprised this was in focus, as most of the action is in the left of the frame, but I think the focus point is just about over Anthony's arm. With a static subject we could sort out the framing and lighting before shooting, but that luxury is not available, we have to rely on the camera to do it for us. We can crop the image, which if anything makes the underexposure of the players more pronounced.

Of course, we can adjust the lighting, but even then, there is only so much we can do - I decided I had better pictures of the player, so it did not make the final collection.

As the shadow was cast by trees, the edges were of course not straight, which gave some better lighting effects when the players were partly in shade.

Jack Booth

I have joked that I do not recognise players when they have had a haircut, and regular followers of Prescot Cables will agree that Jack Booth has had a rather drastic one. Taking a picture of the team sheet, rather than copying it out on to paper makes it more difficult to consult during the game, and I was wondering who was playing at number 15, not recognising Jack until I got the pictures home.

For some, it is more than a matter of recognition. After a game last season, when Liam Hollett had not had one of his best afternoons, and was also sporting a particularly severe haircut, match day announcer David Williams (who has been supporting the club since 1945) approached him with the words, "Liam, you're like Samson, you've had your hair cut and all your strength has gone".

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

Elvis has entered the building

Due partly to the early start to the FA Trophy, and partly to some odd gaps in our League fixtures, this week saw Prescot Cables' first evening game for nearly a month. So, not this year the slow acclimatisation to darker and colder nights, just a transition from the mild, if wet, beginning of September, to the colder climes of October. So, it is out with the thicker coat, precautions against condensation on the camera equipment, and the home made soup from the tea bar - a meal in itself.

Luke Edwards and Salford's Rees Welsh

Prescot were entertaining the players, officials and supporters of Salford City, who play at home in orange, but travel away in a camera friendly light blue.

The game saw a welcome return to first team action (a return as far as I am concerned, I missed the game on Saturday, and the programme had to go to press before the Saturday game) for club captain Liam Hollett, who has been recovering from knee surgery.

Liam Hollett gets ahead of Salford's Osebi Abadaki

There were a few changes from the team I saw playing Skelmersdale, including a return to Prescot for Anthony Shinks, who made a couple of appearances in our centenary season. After that season, at Dennis Bellairs' suggestion, I made a poster with an action shot of most of those who played. I have always been a bit concerned I may have got the names and pictures of some of the players who had made a small number of appearances mixed up. Fortunately, should Anthony spot the poster in the clubhouse, he will find himself correctly identified.

Anthony Shinks then ...

... and now

The game also saw the first appearance (again, the first I saw) of Elvis Banyihwabe, a former international for Burundi.

Elvis Banyihwabe

We do see international players at this level - mostly those on the way up, or those who played internationally earlier in their careers. Burundi is 135th (of 207) in the FIFA rankings - current internationals likely to be playing at this level are from countries at the bottom of the rankings, probably from about 180 and below. From what I could gather from the web, Elvis played for Burundi whilst playing for BV Veendam (now SC Veendam) of the Eerste Divisie (the second tier in the Netherlands).

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

Concentrating on the League this year, Brian

Last season, it sometimes felt like a case of "It's Tuesday, it must be Warrington Town", as we met them in the FA Cup and Doodson Sport Cup, as well as the usual meetings in the League. This season, their place has been taken by Skelmersdale United, who we faced in the first of our fixtures, in the FA Trophy at the weekend. Still to come are the New Year and Easter fixtures in the League, the Doodson Sport Cup, and a possible fixture in the Liverpool Senior Cup if they beat Burscough in the previous round.

With heavy rain having caused extensive flooding and disruption throughout the north of England earlier in the week, it was a relief to have a couple of brighter drier days at the end of the week. Normally on a sunny day, I set the camera to sports mode, and let the apertures and shutter speeds sort themselves out. Sometimes I have a senior moment, and I spent the first 5 minutes of this game shooting in shutter priority mode, with the speed from the last time I used it, 1/200s. This gave the effects - especially movement blur in the player's feet - we do not normally look for in light like this.

Luke Edwards

Having spotted my error, I settled in to more conventional shooting. I usually shoot from the same side of the ground for both halves - when I am trying to get everyone in the album, it means I am closest to the players on the right in the first half ...

Alejandro Barba San Felipe

... and those on the left in the second.

Joe Fielding

It falls apart when the second half substitutes are introduced on the side I have been concentrating on in the first half, but we cannot expect tactics to be determined by photographic requirements.

When there is an incident in the game, there is an element of luck in whether I capture it. Practice means I am pointing the camera in the right direction, with the auto focus point over one of the players involved, but we have seen how the auto focus can wander a bit, and it is luck to press the shutter at the right moment. So, I was quite pleased to capture Skelmersdale's Tony Rendell (a former Prescot player) bringing down Mario Bonetta for a penalty.

I was a little surprised Tony Rendell was sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity, we can see the edge of the penalty area in the picture, and I think the goalkeeper was on his line and in a good position to make a save. Not that it did us any good, we were unable to overcome 10 men in the second half.

I am not sure where to stand for the resulting penalty. Staying in position behind the goal gives a good view of the penalty taker, as here with Jonathon Bathurst.

Despite a good firm shot, Skelmersdale's Sam Ashton went the right way, which gave me the feeling (correct as it turned out) that this was not going to be our afternoon. The disadvantage of this position is that I do not get a picture of the goalkeeper as the post is usually in the way. A view from the side would enable me to capture both, but would require gathering my equipment and making a brisk trot to the side (I am built for comfort rather than speed), and risks another player moving between the camera and the ball at the crucial moment and ending up with no shot at all.

In the programme, the write up from Skelmersdale referred to their having won something called the "Amateur FA Cup". They turned Amateur in the 1960s when they saw an opportunity to perform well in the FA Amateur Cup, with some justification, as they were runners up in 1967 and won the competition in 1971. Wearing my hat as a supporter of Dulwich Hamlet, with a rather longer amateur tradition, holding the status from their foundation until it was abolished in 1974, I can be a pedant, and point out that the Amateur FA Cup is something completely different.

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