Can't see Shawe from here

I sometimes wonder whether it is a requirement of places called "View" that it is not actually possible to see the place described. The house next to my childhood home was called West View, something one could only obtain from the roof. The "Shawe" in the name of Trafford FC's Shawe View home is an historic manor house, now demolished. I do not think you would be able to see it from the ground even if it were still standing, although it looked as though they have performed some surgery on the trees that partly obscured the floodlights last season.

When Trafford chose the location for their ground (some of our supporters have been watching Cables for longer than Trafford have been in existence), they chose well, as it appears to be well drained. Their pitch was therefore in excellent condition for the time of year. Oddly, despite our players being used to a pitch that has drainage issues and the attendant problems, we seem to play better on a smooth surface. I remember a couple of seasons ago the then manager, Dave Ridler, said something to the effect that we have to adjust our game to play on our own pitch, which seemed an odd way of looking at it, as it is where we play 20 games more than anywhere else.

Anthony Shinks on Trafford's pristine turf

There is grass banking on three sides, which could form the foundation for terracing should league position and finances permit in future years. One is not supposed to go on the grass banking...

What these signs really mean with an average crowd is "We do not recommend you go on the grass banking, but we know you are sensible people, and can assess the risks for yourselves, so we therefore do not propose to stop you. However, if you do get it wrong and slip over and hurt yourself, do not come bleating to us." Of course you would need to be a bit more particular about keeping the banking clear if there is a large crowd.

This was the last outing of the season for the Cables Train Crew (anyone attending at Salford City next week will need to join the Cables Rail Replacement Bus Crew). I was the only non pharmacologist starting from Liverpool, the stopping pattern of the trains meaning Richie, our leader in beer and pub choices, went ahead to reconnoitre the territory. We settled on the excellent Steam House on Urmston Station, a good beer range (with the Deer Beer from Dunham Massey proving a hit), and buffet seating, ideal for those looking to eat, and comfortable sofas for the drinkers.

When I arrived, I passed Mr Webb chatting to his son Jack, who was not playing. At least, I would have given evidence to that effect should the need have arisen, until the teams came on to the field, and I realised Jack was in the team, and just as well too as events turned out.

Jack Webb

We started with the sun shining across the pitch at the start of the half, veering towards the goal we were defending as the half progressed. This gave us the usual problems of backlighting and luminous grass that we can see in the picture of Jack Webb above. Our first goal was, however, nice and clear.

Carl Furlong scores Prescot's first goal

The second half was much clearer with the light in the right direction, at least for the camera.

Dave Powell shields his eyes from the sun to watch Enzo Benn

There are quite a few grounds where no-one seems to have considered the weather when locating facilities like the dugouts and press box. At Trafford both managers and the announcer are looking in to the sun for the whole game. Having said that, I think Trafford is close enough to Manchester to be in its weather system. With hills on three sides and the opening facing in to the prevailing wind, a lot of cloud blows in, and can only get out again by depositing its contents, so looking in to the sun may be a rare problem.

With the scores level and Prescot looking solid in defence, it looked as though we would be taking away a point.

Phil Bannister, Dave Dempsey and Ged Murphy watch as Adam Reid grounds the ball

However, a feature of the team this year has been that they do not flag in the last few minutes, and injury time goal from Jack Webb saw an unexpected three points head our way.

Finally, it would be churlish not to extend this column's congratulations to United on winning the title. That is of course Skelmersdale United, our local rivals for many years, who have won the First Division North title after missing out in the playoffs in the last couple of seasons.

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

Smale foweles maken melodye

I was thinking during Prescot Cables' game at home to Burscough that I may have worked out the perfect weather for an evening game at this time of year, when sunset occurs after the game has started.

We need to start with the sun shining. Hopefully it will be a warm evening, although this is not as important for the photographer as the sun's shining when the game gets under way. Those of us on the west side of England can get the first half an hour of the game in full sunlight, assuming a 7.45 kick off. Those on the east side will not be so fortunate, sunset in London has only just got past 8pm, so they will only get about a quarter of an hour.

Enzo Benn, originally from Brighton, making use of Prescot's extra daylight

The sunlight at the end of the day is not as strong as at an afternoon game, I quickly abandoned the preset sports mode on the camera, and went to shutter priority at 1/320s.

The floodlights are usually turned on a few minutes before the sun sets, and for most of the first half, they augment the remaining natural light.

Phil Bannister

By the end of the first half, I had dropped the shutter speed to 1/250s, but there was still some natural light. By the end of the half, we can still get a shot of our own goalkeeper in action from behind the goal we are attacking, even if it is a bit grainy.

Adam Reid

The floodlights do not just illuminate play: at the end of the half, Rod the Drummer pointed out the blackbirds singing in the trees behind the Safari Park End, and we surmised the lights may have made them think it was still daylight.

At this point we become theoretical about our desired weather conditions: whilst we had sunshine to start the match, we will have to wait for another day for the next bit. Ideally, a south east wind would spring up for half time, and bring in lots of nice white, fluffy, but low, clouds. Wind from the north would be a bit cold, and if the clouds were to the west, they would block out the sun. The last of the natural light disappears during half time - our picture of Adam Reid was almost the last picture of the first half, here is one of the first from the second.

Ryan Grattan

Our astronomically minded friends tell us that light pollution is a major problem observing the night sky from urban areas, so it is reasonable to suppose that clouds reflecting some of that back will give us some assistance where every lumen helps. Having said that, a clear night sky helps with those shots where we want aerial action offset against the dark sky.

Jonathon Bathurst

It has been said that the English talk about the weather because we have nothing else to talk about. I am not convinced, I think it is because of the changeable nature of the weather. If you were to go up to someone in Helsinki in January and say, "Looks like snow, Seppo", he would look at you as if you were mad for opening your mouth, letting cold air in only to state the obvious. However, in England in March... It was, nonetheless, a game for those who appreciate good solid defence from both sides, with Prescot gaining a well earned point.

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

Who scored that one?

Don't you just hate it when your team scores 4 goals and you do not get a decent picture of any of them? Well, not really, 4 goals are 4 goals, especially when they are against the Yorkshirepersons, and the end result assures safety from relegation.

Last weekend's match at Prescot Cables against Wakefield took place on a typical April day, with the weather forecast, not to mention the weather, changing from hour to hour. After 2 games in sunshine, and the morning suggesting more of the same, it was well and truly raining by the time we got under way. I thought I had missed the first goal when Jonathon Bathurst found the net after 3 minutes, when I was still flapping in the breeze with my rain cover, but that was disallowed for offside.

I was better prepared for Carl Furlong going round the goalkeeper at 9 minutes, although if you click on the picture, the capture of the goalkeeper leaves something to be desired.

Carl Furlong scores Prescot's first goal

I am not sure whether the issue is focus or motion blur: Carl is in sharp focus, and the shutter speed is 1/400s. It made it into the slideshow on the "goal is a goal" principle, but I did not offer it to the Merseymart, as it would not have come out well in the unforgiving medium of print, offering an alternative picture of Carl as one of the goal scorers instead.

The next goal came from a shot from Sean Myler at 22 minutes.

Sean Myler scores Prescot's second goal

This picture has everything, Sean dispatching the ball, and the opposition player on the ground to show the defence being beaten. Everything that is, if the shot had gone straight in. It was on target, but Wakefield's Jack Fisher almost succeeded in putting it out for a corner, so when I edited the pictures, it was listed as an own goal. Unusually for this level, there is a video, by Mathew Martin. Although there are no universal rules on recording goal scorers, it is usually recorded as an own goal if it only went in the net because it was played by the defender. Standing behind the goal, I thought this was the case, but in the video, we can see the ball was going in anyway, so the record was updated to credit the goal to Sean.

I did not get anything approaching a picture of the next goal, from a Dave Dempsey corner.

Dave Dempsey. Yes, I know this is a throw in.

It was thought to have gone straight in, but it was played by Ryan Grattan and headed in by Carl Furlong. The confusion is understandable, the main question was whether the ball went over the line, as it bounced out again, and play continued for a couple of seconds before the referee gave the goal.

Whilst the Hawk-Eye system will be used in the Premier League next season for such an eventuality, we will not get it in the EvoStik League any time soon (one argument against technology is that the equipment used should be the same at all levels of the game). I wonder, however, whether there will be a trickle down effect on the rest of the game. This is only the third goal I have personally seen this season where the question has arisen whether the ball has crossed the line (that includes last week's "hole" in the net), usually that fact has been clear, with any controversy surrounding offside or a foul in the build up.

I understand Hawk-Eye is an aid to assess the path of the ball, rather than an automated indicator, so it may be several seconds before an answer emerges in the event of any question. If play has continued, the referee can then stop and give the goal. However, if he stops play, only to find analysis shows it has not crossed the line, presumably the restart will be a dropped ball on the edge of the goal area, not a goal kick or corner, as the ball had not left the field of play. I do not recall having seen such a restart live, and it sounds less than ideal: a goalmouth melee with the referee in the middle and unlikely to be able to see all infringements. So, in matches with Hawk-Eye there is likely to be a presumption in favour of continuing play. If that thinking trickles down to games where the system is not in use, we could see the benefit of any doubt shifting towards goals not being awarded where the ball has not ended up firmly in the back of the net.

The fourth goal was much clearer, with the ball ending up unequivocally in the net, courtesy of Jonathon Bathurst.

Jonathon Bathurst

I was able to get a picture of Jon, but after the ball had gone goal-ward and out of frame, so I sent in the picture above, again as a set of pictures of the goal scorers.

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

Grew amid the island-dwellings

I do not often find myself called upon to attend cup finals. The only one to which I made it before this week was the North West Counties League Cup final in 2002, won by Prescot Cables. On that occasion, at Bury's Gigg Lane ground, I looked for a seat, and walked past a steward holding open a gate without being challenged. After a couple of minutes, I realised I was sitting in the blazers' enclosure, so, this being before I started taking pictures, I sat tight and enjoyed the best view of the game. There was no chance of a repeat at the Ryman League Cup final at the Gallagher Stadium, home of Maidstone United, as their directors' and press facilities are completely separated from the hoi polloi. My friend John from the Southwark News eschewed the gallery, and enjoyed the game from the terraces - not the first reporter from the paper to be a supporter too.

The main stand, with fully segregated press and directors' box

Dulwich Hamlet were playing Concord Rangers, who are challenging for the playoff places in the Premier Division, and who are named after a beach on Canvey Island. I know little of Canvey Island, apart from its having storage facilities for large amounts of flammable liquid and only one road out, and that flapjacks are required to be square, not triangular.

Walking to the ground, I was examining the satnav and about to proceed by the long way via the road, when a helpful passer by pointed out it was quicker by the riverside path. At the same time, I was joined by a Maidstone supporter for the remainder of the journey. He expressed his desire for the game - a Dulwich win, and, given that at the time of the game, we were level with them on points at the top of the table, a well fought game with extra time and penalties.

When I arrived, there were supporters ready to pose for a picture. Having the 70-300mm lens already attached, taking a picture involves retreating an almost silly distance.

The flag Michael is holding is from Altona 93, a club at a similar level to ours in Hamburg, a coach load of whose supporters visited London last month for a music and football weekend and a return match against the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' Team.

I am not sure to what standard Maidstone's floodlights were installed: the original planning application, including floodlighting plan, was submitted in 2004, before Maidstone Council digitised their planning documents, so it was not available online. However, I think may be to the Football League Division Two standard of 350 lux. They were the best lights under which I have worked since I started writing these pages.

I started the first half, when there was still some daylight left, using shutter priority at 1/320s. With 9 heads per pylon, all working, there were none of the dark spots you normally see, which matters when our kit is two thirds dark blue from the front, and wholly so from the back. When photographing Dulwich, I always have trouble getting the pink to come out with the right shade, and had the same trouble under the lights.

Luke Hickie takes a throw in in a normally dark area of the pitch, Peter Adeniyi in the background

Man of the Match Ellis Green shoots for Dulwich's first goal

With all this light, you may have thought everyone would be able to see what was going on. However, when Ellis Green scored the first goal for Dulwich, a superb shot into the top corner, Concord's goalkeeper vociferously protested that the ball had entered the goal through a hole in the net, regardless that no-one else had seen anything irregular, and his team mates were all back in their own half without protest for the restart of play.

The Dulwich supporters make full use of the metal modular terracing to make some noise

For the second half, I dropped the shutter speed down to 1/250s, with surprisingly crisp results.

Ethan Pinnock

I was even able to get a couple of shots of Dulwich goalkeeper Chico Ramos in action from a vantage point behind the goal we were attacking, something I do not normally expect to be able to do under floodlights.

Chico Ramos makes a save

The main lighting challenge was the mist for most of the game, which is to be expected in a riverside location. Maidstone's 3G pitch means they do not have the same problems as other clubs with postponements due to rain, although it is not proof against the sort of snow we have had this season, and I wonder whether they have more of a problem with fog than some.

The Maidstone supporters got their wish for extra time, although not penalties, as Concord's Premier Division experience told in the end, and they took the Cup back across the water. The extra time did not have the desired effect in the League, with Dulwich bouncing back at the weekend to win 5-0 against Walton Casuals on Saturday and Maidstone losing at Faversham.

There was news during the week that Danny Carr, who had attracted interest from a number of clubs, including Liverpool, signed terms with Huddersfield Town. He is a contract player, so there will be a fee, and I suspect it strengthened the position of our manager, Gavin Rose, negotiating for Danny to remain with us until the end of the season. This was made possible by funding from the 12th Man scheme, which allows supporters to donate regular amounts by standing order or one off amounts at home games, with all money being ring fenced to allow Gavin to augment his playing budget as he sees fit.

Danny Carr (right) with Erhun Öztümer

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

Flat cap day

A few months ago, I was watching a programme about the musical duo Chas & Dave. Chas (or Dave) was telling a story about an interview with a journalist. "She said, 'Why do you wear braces?', and we answered in unison, 'To stop our trousers falling down'. She looked at us and said, 'You mean you wear them in real life?'." As someone who likes braces, at least with formal trousers, I understood their point, and was reminded of it when Phil of the Cables Pharmacologists suggested that, as Mossley is on the Lancashire / Yorkshire borders, we should wear flat caps in honour of this heritage.

The flat cap has to be one of the most useful garments for the photographer of a winter sport. It is light, easily folded and slipped in to a pocket or bag, warm (provided you get a proper woollen one) stops rain running down your face but without a wide brim against which to knock the top of the camera, and sits securely enough on the head not to blow off. That last is dependent on not having long hair: when I feel the cap starting to slip a bit, it is time for a haircut.

So, flat caps were purchased by those who did not own them, and the independently travelling supporters (or the Cables Train Crew as we have christened ourselves, despite only one of our number ever having actually crewed a train) assembled for a rather crowded 10.22. I am not sure why it was so full. With the Grand National, I can see why there were crowds on their way to Liverpool, but, although I am not particularly keen on horse racing, I have never seen the need to leave the city at all costs.

The Train Crew - photo by Richie Brown

The first stop was the Station Buffet in Stalybridge, where the stag parties seemed well under way, with one group doing their bit for flat cap sales dressed as farmers, and another impersonating clergymen, for which I think you could be excommunicated until 1963. Moving on to Mossley, we found the locals in the Commercial to be interested in their visitors and their football club, although not quite interested enough to make the ascent to watch a game.

Warren Jones and Dave Powell watch Enzo Benn and Karl Bergqvist

Having encouraged the stragglers up the hill, the game got under way with Prescot playing towards the Yorkshire end (the end nearest to Yorkshire, whatever definition you choose to use). This end has a large area of white paint, with the sun shining towards it. However, there are relatively few problems of backlighting.

Jack Webb

We had hoped to encounter the Mossley Ultras, who have something of an internet presence, as it would have made for a good atmosphere, with both sets of supporters making a noise for their teams, but we seemed to have found their weekend off - something commented on by MossleySmiffy, a regular photographer of Tameside's football teams.

I do not often include pictures from the substitutes warming up at half time, not least as I am often getting some food at the time.

The warm up often takes the form of shooting practice, with a large proportion of shots missing their target. When the services of a stand in goalkeeper were offered and accepted (slightly irregular, and Mossley would have been within their rights to object), many more shots were on target when they had someone to concentrate on beating. Given that keepers from the 50s and before wore a woolly jumper and cloth cap, our stand in keeper chose to perform his function bare headed.

The second half presented more of a problem with backlighting, hence more of the final slideshow came from the first than normal (45 pictures from the first half, 14 from the second and one from half time).

Connor McCarthy makes his debut as a second half substitute

Some people ask the question why we need cameras any more when we all have them on our phones. The answer is that they are not very good (to be fair, the camera is at least of some use, unlike the actual phone, on which I rarely succeed in completing a call, like most people, I use it mainly as a mini computer). An action picture taken on a phone has never appeared in these pages, as I have never taken one, as the delay between pressing the button and the picture actually being taken means an attempt to do so is unlikely to be be particularly successful.

However, as we went down the hill, the pharmacologists wanted a picture in front of Mossley's rather fine scenery. As I had put the proper camera away, I thought my phone would suffice. Cue a LCD display that is hopeless in sunlight, and, with no viewfinder, failing to notice three of the party were in shadow from the sign at the entrance to the park. Still, a little tweak of the lighting on the computer helped a bit, and they seemed to like the result.

The pharmacologists on tour

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

A sunny day at Stormy Corner

There are all sorts of things to do on a bank holiday, so it was natural that I should find the most attractive to be a visit to Stormy Corner, the home of Skelmersdale United. As the morning was cold and cloudy, venturing out placed me in a minority: the buses had none of the overcrowding that normally results from shoehorning Saturday demand into a Sunday service. Given that I did not go there for many years as I thought it was difficult to get to, I now find it is one of the easier grounds to access - only a few minutes walk from the bus stop. This information will need to go in storage: this will probably be the last League game we play at Skelmersdale for a while, as they look secure in their challenge for automatic promotion, unless the wheels come off in the last month of the season.

I arrived a few minutes early (I shall pause for a few readers who have known me for some time to recover their composure), and had time to watch the team warming up. I was able to warm up myself, as the sun had come out, and it was quite pleasant if you stayed out of the wind. The operative word there is "if", as we shall see later.

With our circumstances making it difficult to pay to keep a settled squad, many games this season have featured someone making a debut, and this was no exception, with Scott Thomas stepping up from the youth team to cover for injuries, and Josh Odukomaya making a first start after a number of games on the bench.

Scott Thomas

Josh Odukomaya

Skelmersdale's ground is a mixed bag for the photographer. The cover is limited, and there is no terracing behind the goals, albeit with space for it as and when funds permit in the future (the latter is not an issue, for still photography, the lower the camera position the better). The pitch perimeter fence is quite low (the 1.1m in the ground grading document is an ideal, not a requirement) so there is nowhere to rest my arms - an example of FA ground grading catering for the comfort of the amateur photographer. However, the east - west orientation of the pitch means that there are less light problems, particularly of players being backlit in sunny conditions, than at other grounds. The fence is an even regulation distance from the pitch, so you get some good close up shots when the players are chasing the ball to the goal line.

Carl Furlong

For the first half, the grass banking did a good job of keeping the wind off. However, in Stormy Corner, some corners are stormier than others, and the wind was whipping round the position I took in front of the board room and announcer's booth for the second half. I was rewarded with a good shot of our goal, from Liam Hollett, who is more often stopping the opposition scoring, which perhaps illustrates the bias that creeps in when choosing photographs.

Liam Hollett heads home for Prescot's goal

Score a goal, and it is on the record, so it will be the natural picture to illustrate the game. Block the opposition from scoring a dozen times, and unless one is a clearance off the line, there is no moment you can identify for the decisive contribution. Getting the ball away from an advancing forward can still make for a good image.

Dave Dempsey dispossesses Skelmersdale's Matty Hughes

Skelmersdale may have been expecting an easy win from this game, as their supporters were becoming rather unhappy, thinking, not without justification, that we were taking our time at set pieces. It was only in the last 10 minutes that their strength in depth started to tell, giving them the win. Strangely enough, when they went ahead, their supporters did not seem to find the restart of play to require quite so much urgency.

As the sun was well and truly out by the end of the game, I eschewed the bus back to Ormskirk, and walked through the back lanes instead - the advantage of Stormy Corner is that it is on the edge of the town, so a couple of hundred yards and you are away.

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

Entertaining the Googlies

Easter weekend this year saw Prescot Cables entertain Goole AFC. The game was scheduled for Good Friday, which meant I could catch the second half after finishing in church. However, due to snow earlier in the week, it was switched to Holy Saturday (not Easter Saturday, that is the Saturday after Easter). I was therefore able to see the whole game, having spent the morning helping to set up for the Easter ceremonies.

When I got to the ground, I could see why the game had been switched. There were large piles of snow, or, more to the point, ice around the pitch. Prescot seemed to have had more snow than the surrounding area, which rapidly turned to ice. But for the work put in by Keith, one of our volunteers, clearing the pitch on Good Friday, it would probably have taken another few days to melt. Not that everyone was happy, AFC Liverpool did not seem too pleased Keith had not been available to assist them attempting to clear the pitch for their Liverpool Senior Cup game on Tuesday. Having seen the picture from Tuesday on the Liverpool County FA Facebook page, with a third of the snow cleared and at least 5 people working, I am not sure an extra person would have made a lot of difference.

Adam Reid in front of the cleared snow

At least we had our game away to Goole in the early part of the season, as the independently travelling supporters would have trouble getting there at the moment: the railway line between Doncaster and Goole is blocked by something a bit more substantial than snow - a landslip from an adjoining colliery.

Our match day announcer, David Williams, was in a certain amount of demand for photographs, as he appeared in Coronation Street during the week. If you watch drama on television you will probably have seen David, as he plays many of the incidental characters that give an ongoing drama its variety - this was his eighth character in the Street. The last time I saw the programme was when First World War veteran Albert Tatlock (Jack Howarth) was refusing to travel in the Volkswagen Ken Barlow (William Roache) had just bought, but I believe David was playing a gentleman called Stan Whitmore, who was selling cakes containing dodgy substances to his fellow pensioners.

David Williams (in dark glasses) watches Cables away to Garforth last season

A photographic effect particular to football is to capture the action through the goal net. This is easier said than done, and you need a small focus point on the camera to be able to do it. I was unable to do it at all with my D50, the focus point was too large, so it always focused on the net, but with the D5000, it works about half the time. The more recent Nikon models have the central focus point as a cross hair, which should increase the success rate of this type of shot.

Jonathon Bathurst

The advancing goalkeeper in this picture offers the suggestion that Jon Bathurst's shot was indeed saved.

However, Prescot's two goals indicated the contrast between the ease of capturing two different types of goal. The first, from Sean Myler, was the easy sort, the player running up, with plenty of time to focus, plenty of frames (just keep pressing the button on the top - it's digital), so we capture the ball being dispatched towards the net.

Sean Myler shoots from the edge of the area

The second was more difficult - players in the box, the ball is heading to their goalkeeper, who drops it. Fortunately, Karl Bergqvuist's reactions were sharper than mine, whilst I am still focused on the floundering keeper, Karl has taken the ball round him and dispatched it. Not the best of pictures, but a good goal.

Karl Bergqvist takes advantage of the keeper's error

The 2-1 win means that moving up a further place in the table is not out of reach following a good run of results over the last couple of months. It will not have done any favours to Goole in putting space between themselves and Garforth Town, although form suggests that, with only one team to be relegated as a result of league expansion, Goole are likely to retain their league status. With a route I do not usually use (which should be open again next season), historic ground and interesting insects, Goole was one of the more enjoyable trips this season.

With the League having to extend its season by a week (initially taking the fixtures from last weekend, where all bar two games were lost to the snow and putting them on the first Saturday in May), I am not convinced about league expansion. Although snow at the end of March was unexpected, having four more games for every club cannot be good for resilience. Also, when Chester FC were admitted to the league after appealing to the FA a couple of seasons ago, we had a still manageable 23 teams in the division: if you start with 24, a similar situation will take us to 25.

As for the title of the post, I am not sure whether people from Goole refer to themselves as Goolies, or if it is a name given by inhabitants of other towns in the area. However, when webmaster Geoff was advertising the game and advising of the rearrangement on Twitter, his auto correct kept changing it to Google AFC.

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