Means of transport

Regular readers will be aware of the group of Prescot Cables supporters informally known as the Cables Train Crew. Travelling to Burscough, the options by train are a half hourly service with 25 stops, or a quicker but irregular service, and, as the game is local, there is no coach. In discussion at Rhyl, someone thought of hiring a minibus, then came the idea that it would probably be not much more expensive to hire a stretch limousine. This turned out to be the case, so thirteen of us fitted surprisingly comfortably into our novel transport. The vehicle had to take roundabouts rather gingerly, so we picked our game well: if we had chosen to travel this way to Warrington or Skelmersdale, we would still be on the road.

When we took our refreshment in the Hop Vine before last season's fixture, we were impressed with the look of the food, so this time we booked a table, and were rewarded with generous portions of good food at reasonable prices. They had a beer festival too, so as well as their usual selection of English beers, particularly from their own Burscough Brewery, a number of German brews were available, and could be served in the traditional manner.

Dr Phil enjoys a beer from the world's oldest brewery. Photo by Richie Brown

Once in the ground - having renewed acquaintance with Burscough's turnstiles, through which the average broom would need to go sideways - I looked at the programme and found both goalkeepers to be of interest. Our keeper, Nick Culkin, has a wealth of experience in the Football League, and a brief Premiership appearance as a late substitute in a game for Manchester United.

Nick Culkin

The home keeper, Tim Horn, represented England Universities last season, part of a silver medal winning team at the World University Games. I am not sure what they teach them at University: he had a worrying tendency (for his side) to stray outside his area, and had to resort to the normal tackle to get the ball away from an advancing player. Having tried this in the first few minutes with Connor McCarthy ...

... he was left with a stray ball, that was put away by Kyle Riley (this picture is not of the goal).

There are those who say beards make men look older. I am inclined to disagree, I remember a picture from the last day I had a shave in 1994, and it is only in the last couple of years when the grey has taken hold that I started to look any older. However, it works in some cases, looking at the profiles in our programme, Kyle is 19, so there is no harm in the opposition thinking he is a couple of years older, although he has still chalked up good playing experience as a trainee with Burnley and Oldham Athletic, and has played in Spain.

Connor McCarthy made his own entry on the score sheet a few minutes later, the photo of this getting in to the collection on the "goal is a goal" principle.

Most of the Train (or Limousine) Crew decided to use of the covered standing to make some noise, so for the first half they were in what I think of as a non traditional position behind the goal we were defending.

Members of the Train Crew watch Ryan Eiselt

I was quite glad to go to that end for the second half, as the shade is better, making for a more even light.

Dave Powell and John Filan watch Ryan Grattan taking a throw in

Having taken a 2-1 lead into the second half, we were not able to hold on to it, and Tim Horn, whilst still ranging more widely than many goalkeepers, wisely stayed in his area, and was able to keep our attacks at bay, leaving us to go home in our exotic transport with a point.

Finally, this blog extends its best wishes for a speedy recovery to Dulwich Hamlet's Harry Ottaway, who sustained a fracture to his tibia in a collision with Carshalton Athletic's goalkeeper in their game at the weekend.

Harry Ottaway

The rest of the pictures from Prescot's game at Burscough can be seen here.