Back where I started

In the summer of 2004, I bought a new camera. I had used one before, in the 90s, but I had not persevered. I found only 3 or 4 from a roll of 36 exposures were worth showing, and I was not keen to feel around in the dark with chemicals to do my own printing, so it could always have been a better crop. There were not many opportunities to show the results either. With an incremental cost in film and developing for every shot, this seemed an expensive hobby. With digital cameras, shots can be swiftly deleted - I once had some difficulty explaining to one of our older supporters that the question "How much does the film cost?" does not have the same meaning when you can re-use the space.

So, equipped with my new toy, I was looking for somewhere to use it. For some years I have been sending reports and programmes to my friend Roger, who recruited me to the Cables interest in 1991, when he was at University and I had not long left, in much the same way as support is currently recruited amongst pharmacologists. Like these ramblings, the reports were more about the day than the football, so I thought they would benefit from illustration. As it was a Bank Holiday weekend, and Prescot were playing away at Burscough, I took the camera along.

My first sports picture I saw fit to show. From the look of the shadows, I took a while to work out it is better not to look in to the sun.

It was a compact camera, and the images were 640 x 480 pixels, but I quickly grasped the basic principles:-
1 - Point the round thing on the front in the direction of the action and press the button on the top. A lot.
2 - Make sure the duff ones never see the light of day.
I took about 40 shots, which was fine, as I only needed one or two. These days I am more keen to press the button, and with a SLR, the images are much better for cropping, but that 10% success rate remains, so I need a few hundred shots for the slide show of about 60.

I had not been back to Burscough since, as they spent most of the intervening period in a higher division than us. As there is no coach to games this close, everybody was independently travelling, although those of us who do so as a matter of course made arrangements as a group. It takes a long time to go a short distance, as the train to Southport, the most frequent service, makes 16 stops in 19 miles. The connecting service was quicker: fortunately, Northern Rail were happy to accept the tickets most of our party had been sold to add on to their Saveaways from Meols Cop without requiring we take a train that stops there.

On arrival, we took our refreshment at the Hop Vine, an outlet for some excellent beers from the Burscough Brewing Company. The only snag was that the pub is rather food oriented at lunchtime and in the evenings. The best time to be in there would be when the game is on, and we were not expecting a good result, as our hosts had recently beaten Skelmersdale United. Still, we are not easily deterred, so we squeezed through Burscough's almost unfeasibly narrow turnstiles. The home team were in all green, which, for one brought up in the seventies, made them look like 10 goalkeepers and another goalkeeper, which I am sure will make a whimsical film title one day.

Carl Furlong

As Prescot were playing all in red, all we needed was the yellow ball from the Ryman League to make a passable footballing representation of the flag of Portugal.

It quickly became clear that our performance was going to exceed our expectations. We have a young team, and I have not seen a game this year where I have had any cause to doubt their effort and commitment, but sometimes a lack of experience can tell. This was one of those occasions when everything came together. Prescot's two goals came from Jonathon Bathurst, who has been playing consistently well since returning from a 10 week break to address a recurring injury.

Jonathon Bathurst shoots for the second goal

I am something of a one photographer campaign for numbers on the front of shirts, as used in international games. Normally, this is to identify the opposition, whom I would usually only see twice a season. It can be handy when we have new players too, although by this time of the season, there is usually not more than one of our players I am seeing for the first time, such as Jason Jeffries, who had an excellent debut.

Jason Jeffries

However, there are times they would come in handy for the regular players. Here are Sean Myler and Jack Webb, joining Jonathan Bathurst celebrating his first goal.

I am just glad I am just providing the still photos after the event, not a running commentary.

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