Take the late train to Clarksville

I am on to about my fifth sporting trip to Lancaster, and I have failed to reach the town at the time I intended on any of them. Although there are two trains an hour between Wigan and Lancaster, they are 10 minutes apart, and seem to accumulate the same delays. I therefore allowed extra time on this occasion to get some pictures of the town in the evening light and a meal at the excellent White Cross.

Lancaster City give potential punters the opportunity to get in from whatever direction they come, with turnstiles in three corners of the ground. This allows for segregation, although I was surprised to find all three open for our visit.

At this time of year, we still have natural light at the beginning of the game, with the Met Office app telling us sunset was four minutes before kick off, although the referee started a couple of minutes early. He was clearly not expecting a shot along the ground: when I took up position behind the goal, with the game in progress, a home official was walking round with a couple of extra spikes to fix down the goal net. One would have thought that either the net was satisfactorily fixed, or it needed to be rectified before we started. The floodlights went on a couple of minutes before the start, but the natural light with a clear sky was more than sufficient whilst they warmed up.

Weekday evening games, especially away, are often a chance for new players, as some regular players will have work commitments.

Jonathan Lynch

The floodlights proved to be amongst the best in the Division. There are four pylons on each side, with three heads each of the end pylons, and two on the middle, which does not quite fit my little diagrams. Half an hour in, I was still getting good results from the end of the pitch with the shutter speed at 1/250s.

Sean Myler

I then moved round to the side, where it seemed gloomy on the terrace. This may be an indication that the lights work as they should, casting light on the pitch with minimal spillage to surrounding areas: efficient, and good for neighbourly relations in a residential area.

In the second half, I stood by the tea bar and toilet block, towards the end of one side of the ground. Results were surprisingly clear in the middle of the pitch ...

Phil Bannister and an unnamed Lancaster player. Numbers on the front of shirts need to catch on!

... and around the goal.

Antony Shinks takes a goal kick for Nick Culkin

On my side of the pitch, some results were almost good enough to use straight off the camera.

John Beattie - picture cropped, but with no lighting adjustment

The finished result, with shadows ligthened

I spent most of the rest of the game between the two dugouts, a vantage point I almost never take in daylight, as there are coaching staff, substitutes and an assistant referee legitimately getting in the way, but in the evening, the available light can make up for it.

Mike Smith takes a free kick

As for the result, the report in the Lancaster Guardian referred to our side being difficult to break down, and having dangerous attacking players, which I think is a fair assessment, but Lancaster were the better team on the night and their 2-0 win was probably a fair result.

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