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.