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.