Bear necessities

Prescot Cables' visitors for the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup were Congleton Town, who we visited in the First Qualifying Round in 2008. We were joined on that occasion by a group of students, who made plenty of noise, including a scurrilous song about which of our players Victoria may have in mind when spending time with David. They subsequently joined us to liven up a few other occasions in an otherwise depressing season.

Making the crowd look bigger than it was at Congleton in 2008

Congleton's kit was emblazoned with their nickname of the Bears, a reference much used in the town by organisations like the Beartown Brewery, and the Beartown Bus service. It comes from the crueler times of the 1620s, when the town were not getting big enough crowds for bear baiting, so they sold their Bible (or raided the Bible fund) to buy a more aggressive bear. The revenue from the crowds attracted by the new bear paid for a bigger and better Bible. What Ye Local Governmente Standardes Boarde made of it is not recorded, and I believe the Bible takes a dim view as well.

Sean Myler, pursued by a Bear

In the last couple of posts my attention has been drawn by the opposition goalkeeper (the player of whom I have the closest and most uninterrupted view), and the trend continued this week. In goal for Congleton was Martin Pearson, who always impressed me with a mixture of physical presence and agility over the couple of seasons he was playing against us for Mossley.

Martin Pearson chases down a shot from Connor McCarthy

I was concerned we may be without the players we have on loan, as agreements often prohibit playing for the borrowing club in cup games, as it will prevent them playing for the loaning club in later rounds. I need not have worried, our players from AFC Fylde, Phil Bannister and Isaac Kusoloka, were both in the starting lineup.

Phil Bannister

For the photos, Isaac was a welcome addition. Football is not like athletics, where participants move in a limited area, so you can prepare and plan short bursts of shooting: in football, you need to keep the camera tracking the action. Isaac is one of the more agile players when it comes to taking kicks in the air, and sometimes you get one of those pictures where everything comes together. I thought this was my best picture of the day, but the Merseymart prefer competitive action shots, so they used the picture of Connor McCarthy and Martin Pearson above.

Isaac Kusaloka

Making a welcome return in defence was club vice-captain Antony Shinks, starting his season after missing the initial games through injury.

Antony Shinks

Despite some good attacking play, we were unable to get anything in the net - fortunately we also kept a clean sheet, so the game went to a replay at Congleton. I was not able to attend the replay, but Prescot won with a goal from Sean Myler.

Finally, Warren Jones, one of our coaches, is leaving to become Assistant Manager at Atherton Laburnum Rovers. Warren has been part of a coaching team that has introduced a great team spirit and willingness to play to the final whistle that has been worth a few points over the last year. This blog wishes him well in his future endeavours.

Warren Jones with Dave Powell. He will need to take Dave's hat with him, it's cold in Atherton.

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