To arrive is better than to travel hopefully

I let out a sigh when I learnt Lancashire's game against Cheshire in the County Championship for the Bill Beaumont Cup was to be held at Sedgely Park. That is most unfair on the club: I have visited on a number of occasions, they are well run, with excellent facilities including a stand. A visit would be fine if I could just get from home to the ground without having to actually travel between the two.

My main dislike about this trip in the rain that always seems to fall when I go there is the 20 minute walk from public transport, with no pubs or shops in which to shelter along the way. Well, there are, but once you reach them you may as well carry on 100 yards to the ground. I have always got the bus to the start of this walk, but with the aid of Mr Google and the walking routes on his maps, I found it is only a couple of minutes further to the tram, so I could take advantage of the tram's shorter journey time. Users of Manchester's trams will recognise the flaw in this, and even finding the journey time takes some research; they do not publish timetables, so you have to get it by stealth on the Traveline website.

I wanted to look something up in the Library and an exhibition looked interesting in the Art Gallery, so it seemed logical to get a tram from St Peter's Square. Unfortunately, the planned closure of the whole southern half of the system is an insignificant enough event for Metrolink not to put it anywhere obvious on their website, so I walked in the pouring rain to Piccadilly Gardens. The confirm button on the ticket machine should say "You've just missed one, are you sure you do not want to get the bus?", as the reduced frequency on the Bury line, for more engineering works "while we make Victoria Posh", more or less cancels out the journey time advantage.

Having got as wet as I could, there seemed little point using the stand, so I sheltered in the clubhouse porch to get the cover on the camera, then took up position on the other side of the pitch. My friend Jon wondered a few weeks ago whether there might be mileage in a combined monopod and umbrella: I thought the concept was reasonable, but there would be practical issues, particularly how to avoid the water going all over the camera when you put the umbrella down.

It was a grey day, with one side playing in shirts that look grey from a distance.

With the wet conditions, both ball and ground were slippery, so there was a lot of kicking, with associated lineouts and catches in open play.

I did not manage to get a picture of a rare dropped goal, from Cheshire's Richard Vasey. This is probably the most difficult way to score, taking considerable skill with the opposition bearing down on you, so it is usually better to go forward for a possible seven points from a try and conversion, rather than an uncertain three points.

Conditions improved in the second half, as the rain eased off, and I was tempted to put my coat and hat on the perimeter fence to dry. That turned out not to be a good idea, as it started to rain again, and I needed to put them back on, which made me feel even wetter. On the field, the ball looked easier to handle.

At 70 minutes, Lancashire were 12-19 behind, enough for a losing bonus point, which would be needed to stay level in the table with Yorkshire, who had scored a fourth try at Northumberland, with Lancashire's big win two weeks ago giving a superior points difference. However, in the last few seasons Lancashire have made good use of substitutions, and are good at coming back from behind in the last few minutes. It proved to be so again, with tries from Adam Lewis (converted by Chris Johnson) and Warren Spragg putting qualification for the Final beyond doubt.

Now, this blog is quite traditionally minded, so I enjoyed this sequence - it looks very much like a good old fashioned dive pass!

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

Final score: Lancashire 25 (T Rawlings, Lewis, Spragg; C Johnson 2; P Johnson 2), Cheshire 19

Battle of the Vikings

It is not often I attend a game as a genuine neutral. Even at a club I do not usually watch, I tend to support my local team. However, on the basis of an unduly pessimistic weather forecast, I decided not to travel to Scarborough for Lancashire's County Championship rugby union game against Yorkshire, but went to Caldy for Cheshire's game against Northumberland. Both sides lost the previous week, against Lancashire and Yorkshire respectively, so I was not looking for a result to help my side (apart possibly from a highly unlikely low scoring draw).

The Wirral has a strong Viking heritage. Nearby Thingwall includes Þingvöllr, its name in Old Norse, on the signs at the village boundary. Northumberland of course has a Viking connection too, and some players looked the part.

Cheshire had made a good choice of venue for the weather conditions. As it was a bright sunny day, one of the warmest of the year so far, the Dee Estuary provided a welcome breeze.

The comments from the Caldy Chairman in the programme referred to the "open air grandstand", which saw good use.

Some spectators were ready to pounce if the ball came out of play.

The less populated open side provided an ideal vantage point, with the sun directly behind me, so I had no problems with shadows. I did not need to worry about shutter speeds, with the sports mode selecting 1/1600 or 1/2000s. With its also selecting ISO 400, that gave an aperture around f/8. This is narrower than under most conditions, so there is a greater depth of field, which was handy for the pictures illustrating the crowd. In future, I shall try increasing the shutter speed (I can go as fast as 1/4000s) or decreasing the ISO to 200 and see if I can get some shallow depth of field on a bright day.

University players are not common in this competition, not least because of the time of year coinciding with examinations, but Northumberland scrum half Tom Banks of Newcastle University had a good game last week, and looked like doing so again this week, but unfortunately sustained an injury that ended his afternoon after about half an hour.

Being present in a non partisan capacity meant I did not feature one side's players over the other in the final slide show. This is in any event not as clear cut in rugby as in football. In the latter, I concentrate on when our own players have the ball, whereas in rugby a player tackling makes for just as good a picture.

For the individual shots of players running, kicking or passing, my selection was quite even.

Having watched these games for a few years, I recognise some players, although they do not always turn up where I expect them. Qualification for the competition can come from being born in the county (generally following historic boundaries), living there, or playing for a member club of the County RFU. The latter two can change, so, for example, having seen James Smith playing as a replacement scrum half for Lancashire last season, we see him this season fulfilling the same function for Cheshire.

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

Final score: Cheshire 35, Northumberland 31.

Changeable weather

On a train towards Blackpool all human life is there. On this occasion, the carriage on my little Pacer train was populated in large part by two weekend parties. I would say the noise was ear splitting, but it was mainly going straight through my skull without really troubling my ears at all.

Fylde RUFC, who were hosting Lancashire's game against Northumberland in the County Championship for the Bill Beaumont Cup, have some pictures on display of Mr Beaumont playing for Fylde, Lancashire and England. The conclusion to be drawn from them is that there was a lot more mud back then then. Pitch maintenance and the science of growing grass have improved significantly in the last few years, although it has not addressed the amount of water falling from the sky. At the risk of upsetting the Fylde Tourist Board, it seems to rain whenever I am there, not to mention the wind blowing off the sea. Fortunately the worst rain was before the start of the game, when I could shelter in the bar. Well, it was fortunate for me, not for the players warming up in it.

In the last few years, Lancashire have maintained a stable core to the team, not always easy in a competition over four weeks in May. There is significant input from our hosts, combined with young players making their way up. As our game was taking place, two of my favourite former players were playing against each other in the Championship Play Off Semi Final, James Doherty with Leeds Carnegie and Alex Davies with London Welsh.

Northumberland seemed to have warmed up better, as they took the lead before Lancashire seemed to fully get going.

As the rain eased off, to be replaced by the wind, the home side soon started to get things together. Captain Chris Johnson has been useful with his feet in these games for a few seasons, kicking most of Lancashire's conversions and penalties ...

 ... today also kicking in open play ...

... before gathering the ball to put it down for a try.

The rain started again late in the first half, which coincided with another spell of Northumberland pressure, with their scrum half, Tom Banks, giving his team 14 points with two tries he converted himself.

I am not sure what the Lancashire coaches said at half time, but the team simply overpowered the opposition in the second half, and made good use of substitutions - many of the substitutes come from Fylde, so are used to playing together, rather than just being second choices for their position who might not gel when they come on.

Even more rain did not help the visitors.

The sun came out for the end of the game, just as the announcer forgot the visitors' name, referring to substitutions for Northumbria, to the muttered consternation of the gentlemen in Northumberland blazers standing behind me. For Lancashire Steve Collins came on for Chris Johnson who had earned a rest before next week's game against Yorkshire.

Fylde were keen for people to continue to enjoy the bar and catering facilities after the game, so I stayed for a pie - the pastry tasted as though it involved suet, unfortunately not often used in a baked pie. After that, it was off to Taps in Lytham, where I spotted a few more of the crowd enjoying their excellent selection of ales.

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

Final score: Lancashire 57 (T - Riley, Spragg 2, Johnson 3, Taylor, Briers, Brennand; C - Johnson 4, Collins 2); Northumberland 19

Could have made that a bit easier

Speaking after the Prescot Cables club AGM a few weeks ago, Manager Dave Powell said it looked as though we would complete our season the hard way, due in large part to our away form. We can almost guarantee a weather induced layoff at some time, but can never tell when that will be. For some years, we have seemed to struggle more than most to recover form when play restarts. This season, all bar one of our games in January were postponed, and just after this we had away games against New Mills, Radcliffe Borough, Ossett Albion and Padiham, where we could not produce the wins that would have pulled us ahead of them, instead only drawing.

There is something to be said for a strong team spirit and familiarity with your own ground, which we have: the bottom two sides, Wakefield and Ossett Albion, had by far the poorest home records, for which they were unable to compensate away.

Safety had been achieved with time to spare, so we were free to enjoy the final day visit of Salford City. Our visitors have been in the news due to their new owners. Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt are a dying breed in football, playing for all or most of their careers for their local top flight club. It is too early to tell how it will work out at Salford, but they are football people, aware of the opportunities the game can provide for their area. Speculation was whether any would attend the game - Mr Giggs was engaged elsewhere, but would the others be at a loose end?

My first observation was that they may well not be playing in that colour away kit next season.

Mike Kennedy

It can only help the team when there is competition to be top scorer. Rob Doran's two goals at Warrington took him to 14 goals, ahead of Connor McCarthy's 13.

Rob Doran

Isaac Kusoloka has had a good run of form, converting the movement that has been keeping opposition defences on their toes into goals as well, so was only three goals behind. Isaac was first on the score sheet.

Isaac Kusoloka scores his first

His father was on hand to enjoy the celebrations.

Isaac added a second in the second half, taking his tally for the season to 13.

Having started in sunshine, the weather was more variable in the second half. As Jeremy Paxman once darkly muttered during the experiment with the weather forecast on Newsnight, "The outlook is showers. It's April, what do you expect?". Taking cover under the stand was no good, as the wind was blowing the rain straight in, so it was just a matter of moving around to keep the water off the front of the lens.

The final goal for Prescot came from Phil Bannister.

Phil Bannister scores our third goal

Isaac, Rob and Phil were deservedly rewarded for their efforts through the season with the Manager's, Supporters' and Players' Player of the year awards respectively.

A consolation goal for the visitors in almost the last minute of the season secured Stuart Rudd an eighteenth consecutive season where he has scored in professional football.

It has been a challenging season, but there was a strong team spirit through quite a lot of changes. When changes happen gradually, it takes an occasional visitor to notice the overall effect: Jon Bathurst on a recent visit (when Rhyl had played on the Friday) commented that he now only knew a few of the players. Looking at the first team sheet of the season bears this out: of today's team, only James McCulloch and Phil Bannister were in the starting lineup and Isaac Kusoloka on the bench.

James McCulloch

Others started in the next few games and have been with us all season.

James Cairns

I quoted this time last year Sir Sanley Rous' remark that "it is a team game and all have played their part". Notable contributions came from Connor McCarthy who has moved up the pyramid, Sean Myler and Enzo Benn who moved on for work, and Ged Murphy who went to take on the challenge at Droylsden.

Sean Myler, pursued by a Bear (against Congleton)

Enzo Benn

Our youth team has always been a good source of players, so it was good to see Danny Brooks' fine substitute appearance at Warrington being rewarded with a start.

Danny Brooks

The Train Crew have had a lot of fun travelling: James McCulloch curtailing the goal celebrations to try and get a winner at Bamber Bridge; our cheery wave to the traffic on the way to Kendal, and the train failing bit by bit that James and I took on the way back; the away draw in front of 1300 at Darlington; the minibus to Mossley with our German guests; and the "all human life was there" pubs on the way to Bamber Bridge and Padiham (and all canine life in the latter). Even on the days when it has just not come together, I have always felt the team have given 100%, which is worth travelling for.

After the game, there was a leaving do for Dr Phil the Pharmacologist, who has got a lot of his friends along to games, and is deciding whether to take up a foreign post. He has actually taken up the post, but it is in Edinburgh, so he gets a say in whether it will be foreign. Still, he will be able to make use of frequent electric trains to join us at some of the more northerly away games, as long as the border is open.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 3 (Kusoloka 2, Bannister), Salford City 1.

It was nice weather, but I was still under it

"I would not mind if I had been doing anything", I greeted the assembled Train Crew, as I arrived feeling and, I am reliably informed, looking green around the gills. I had eaten something that disagreed with me, and started to feel unwell on the train to Warrington. Going to the game with the pharmacologists is not as much help as you might think, they conduct complex research at the cutting edge of medical science, but have long since forgotten how to knock up an effective remedy from commonly available ingredients.

As the bus service is limited on a Bank Holiday, I checked with Mr Google and his Maps how long it takes to walk from the town centre to Warrington Town (just over half an hour). That would be easier to find out if the address on the location tab of the website were that of the ground, rather than a PO Box at the sorting office. As I was not feeling up to the walk, I was glad there were enough of us to make a taxi worthwhile.

I had hardly taken up position when we went behind - the first proper picture I took was of Phil Bannister taking the kick off.

Phil Bannister

I did not feel up to staying behind the goal for very long. Fortunately, there is a nice shady stand on the side opposite the clubhouse, with seats providing a good low vantage point. I took up position alongside James McCulloch's father, who was looking after water supplies for our side of the pitch.

James McCulloch

End of season games can be an opportunity to try out promising players from the youth team, giving them experience of the first team with a view to assessing them more closely in pre season. I remember first seeing Steven Tames on a wet Tuesday at Skelmersdale and Connor McCarthy in rather better weather in Mossley. Taking his chance in a challenging game was Danny Brooks, who was probably expecting to come on as a second half substitute, but found himself stepping up when Lloyd Balazs was injured after about 10 minutes.

Lloyd Balazs

Danny Brooks

Prescot's goals were supplied by Rob Doran, making the scores level early in the second half, and again after Ben Wharton had again put Warrington ahead.

Rob Doran

Another young player making a substitute appearance was Dan Lowton, who has kept goal in previous games, but was making his first appearance in an outfield position.

Dan Lowton

We finally succumbed to a goal in the 90th minute - one the striker could not repeat if he tried, a shot from a tight angle into the top corner. There was a time when we fell to goals in the last few minutes with depressing regularity: a couple of seasons ago I calculated around Christmas that we would have had about 8 points more if games had been played over 80 minutes rather than 90. That has really improved under Dave Powell: I had to look up when we were last level going in to the last 10 minutes, and went on to lose - the answer was at Mossley in November.

Not that Shaun Reid looked any happier.

Get mobile phone and internet - from EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

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

As for the upset stomach, I finally got rid of it with some kaolin and calcium carbonate tablets, i,e, clay and chalk - so basically flavoured mud, then.

Final score: Warrington Town 3, Prescot Cables 2 (Doran 2).

Making it safe

There is something to be said for enjoying the last week of the season without worrying about results. Occasions like avoiding relegation at Lincoln United in the last game of the 2007-8 season are not good for us if they come around too often.

Prescot Cables approached our penultimate home game of the season against Burscough knowing events off the field had probably ensured our safety. Since our game at Wakefield, the League had accepted the resignations of Wakefield, dropping one step due to ground issues, and Cammell Laird, dropping two steps due to ownership issues. That should fill the two places, but there was a rumour that the club finishing bottom would be relegated, presumably making three clubs if Wakefield were not in that position. Results last week made us safe from that, with our win at Wakefield and Ossett Albion's loss at home meaning only those clubs could finish in the bottom position. It is still better to secure safety by finishing out of the last two places, and we needed points to make that sure.

Max Pouncey

Outside football, I look after the servers in a traditional High Church parish, so Holy Saturday (not Easter Saturday, that is the Saturday after Easter) is a busy day, helping put everything back into church that we took out on Good Friday, in time for the Vigil service in the evening. Away games are out of the question, so I was quite fortunate that, for the fourth time in five years, we were playing at home.

Burscough's green kit is one of those to which the camera never seems to do justice, certainly not in daylight, reproduction under floodlights seems better, but it is a more vivid shade than appears here.

Richie Mottram

This is a day where my primary weather concern is not the light, but the absence of wind and rain in the evening - back at church we have a candle to light, from a wood fire, outdoors, in the encircling gloom. However, for the record, there was a decent amount of sun, which presented the usual challenges with backlighting from the white parts of the perimeter fences at the Safari Park End.

Antony Shinks

For some reason, the Fire Service used the Hope Street end to park an appliance for most of the second half. I am not sure why, there did not seem to be any flames, no water needing to be pumped out, and not even any trees from which a cat may need to be rescued.

The visiting goalkeeper was once again Tim Horn, who had been vociferous in our meeting in the Liverpool Senior Cup back in November, especially in the penalty shootout, where he successfully encouraged our penalty takers to aim the ball in his direction, with Isaac Kusoloka being one such. What goes around comes around, and our guest has lost none of his willingness to come off his line, which brought Isaac the opportunity to score his second goal.

Isaac Kusoloka dispossesses Tim Horn near the changing rooms...

... and puts the ball in the goal

The third goal came from Luke Robinson, putting away a loose ball at close range. I got some sort of picture, but even with the "goal is a goal" principle, I include enough of the player for him to be identifiable, just from the knees down is not enough to make it into the collection.

Luke Robinson

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 3 (Kusoloka 2, Robinson), Burscough 0