Catch points

In the wider world, attention last week was on the Scottish Independence Referendum. A Yes may have given a league in England trips to Berwick Rangers, further away for most than "bloody Blyth bloody Spartans on a bloody Tuesday night", the question being which league is the same standard as Scottish Division Two. The No result put Yorkshire independence off the agenda for a bit too, so we welcomed Harrogate Railway Athletic. Dr Phil the Pharmacologist travelled from Edinburgh, although he attended the Liverpool Food Festival and joined some of us later. I do not consider a large variety of food on matchday, the main issue is steak & kidney or meat & potato, and whether to have peas and gravy with it. Still, he missed the match to attend the Food Festival last year too, and we won 7-1 against New Mills.

Harrogate were wearing blue, the first time I have seen their away colours. They have always worn red and green when I have seen them playing us in the past, but they had a home game on the following Monday, so would need it for that.

James Cairns

Most benches have someone taking notes these days, rather than relying on recollections for team talks and assessments as most did when I started watching the game. We do not have coaches in the stand using laptops, but paper and pen are much in evidence. Dave Powell was very economical with a single sheet of paper folded multiple times, but funds now stretch to a clipboard.

Ian Johnson makes notes as Sam Corlett receives the ball

It is one thing to be taking notes, but the visitors looked like they were drawing a picture, and not necessarily choosing the safest place to do it.

We saw the return of a couple of a couple of familiar faces.

John Beattie

Mason Ryan leaves the opposition in disarray

Prescot could not convert possession into goals, despite coming close a number of times, and, as so often happens in such situations, Harrogate scored just before half time.

The second half saw the return from injury of Matty West, who added himself to the score sheet.

This picture has everything for a picture of a goal, apart from one flaw - the number 4 being in the way of my view of the ball. Still, at least from there he will not be stopping it going in the net.

Harrogate went ahead again, and it looked as though we would miss out, until Sam Corlett scored in the last minute to pick up another point, which we have yet to see come in threes this season. Once again it was welcome that we were able to keep up the pressure to the end, and gain from the last minute goal rather than falling victim to it.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (West, Corlett), Harrogate Railway Athletic 2

When Sunday comes

I am not keen on commercial football on a Sunday. I am happy with occasional recreational or charity games, but Saturday for football and Sunday for church seems a good division to me. Unfortunately, with ground shares, some games have to move, which happened with Prescot Cables' FA Cup First Qualifying Round game away to FC United of Manchester, currently playing at Stalybridge Celtic. I am not sure it was a necessary clash, this round of the Cup was drawn before Stalybridge's league fixtures, so it would have been possible to give the landlords an away fixture. Not that the FA are even capable of doing that for a team's own fixtures, a couple of years ago Dulwich Hamlet were given a fixture on the weekend of the second qualifying round of the FA Trophy against opponents who had already drawn a bye to that round.

Fortunately, I was able to make it to the game after my church duties. At this level, if you spot someone in team colours, you can assume they are going to the match and safely go in the same direction. There were a few home supporters on my train, so I was in something of a procession, even if I joined the part that stopped for a sandwich at Tesco on the way.

I initially thought the programme was a slim volume, but it was mostly content, and a decent amount of it. Wires may have been crossed between our clubs on our information, as they listed most of our current squad, but still had Dave Powell as manager - and included a picture of Shaun Reid. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Stalybridge is a much better ground for FC United's crowds, usually around the 2000 mark, than their previous home at Bury: using all sides of the ground makes for a better atmosphere for home and visiting supporters. They had their usual collection of banners - printed ...

James Cairns

... and a bit more hand made.

Joe Evans

Whilst this blog approves of the catering choices expressed, sources tell me a prawn sandwich was spotted in the board room, although I am not sure if the landlords manage the food supply. There was a sweet stall, so I bought some good old fashioned pear drops - the roof of my mouth should grow back in a couple of weeks.

The home team's shirts had a retro feel, with no advertising apart from the League sponsor, and a shade of red less vivid than many available on today's synthetic fabrics, that gives the look of a traditional cotton shirt. Modernity is represented by the socks.

Sam Corlett

FC United have held a strong position in the Premier Division for some years, so they were always the favourites. It is quite possible to upset the league order if everything goes right and you catch the higher placed team on an off day: I watched Worthing doing precisely that against an injury hit Dulwich Hamlet the previous day. There was to be no upset today, with what looked as though it would be four goals without reply.

We hoped for a penalty when Jack Phillips was brought down, but the photographic evidence suggests the referee was correct in awarding a free kick. Supporters are usually watching the player, and see him land in the area, whereas the referee is trained to look at the feet, which are what matter in determining a foul and its location.

Jack Phillips is brought down ...

... and Mark Kilroy takes the free kick

However, Jon Bathurst came forward with a long range shot scoring a last minute consolation goal.

Jon Bathurst

At 1,001 the crowd was one of the the best of the round, and the share of the gate receipts will provide a welcome injection to club funds, but this was 45% down on FC United's League crowd this season. Dulwich Hamlet's crowd against Worthing was a quarter down on the average - partly due to less interest in the Cup, and partly to League figures including all season ticket holders. However, some of the drop must be due to the timing - for supporters at our level, Sunday is often for something other than football. In later rounds drawn two weeks before the game, this is unavoidable, but the fixture compilers could have avoided it here.

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

Final score: FC United of Manchester 4, Prescot Cables 1 (Bathurst)

Tell her to find me an acre of land

In their second long away trip in as many weeks, Prescot Cables visited Scarborough Athletic, who currently play at Bridlington Town. The pharmacologists were disappointed to miss the trip, but they were at a conference, presenting papers on cutting edge developments in medicine and sampling traditional developments in fermented and spirituous beverages. I stayed overnight in Scarborough, seeing a play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, and negotiating the lethal crossing outside the station, where the green man is timed to appear with traffic still coming round the corner.

Scarborough have a chartered Boro Bus, for a very reasonable £3, from the town and places on the way that do not have a service to Bridlington. I have yet to take my flat cap out of the cupboard and check for moth, whereas in Yorkshire the season for wearing them is well under way, so I may not have entirely blended in.

On entry to the ground, you need to be stamped like in an eighties nightclub (they may still do so, but the eighties was the last time I frequented one) to access the bar. Unfortunately, I put my hand in my pocket and wiped the stamp off, so I did not bother to be re-stamped, but watched the players warming up. The League have a sponsorship deal for some smart red training tops. This can provide initial confusion when everyone is training in the same colour. Given that the management wear them, I can see scenes like the Belgian manager having to put his jacket on in the World Cup when his white shirt, even with a tie, was blending in with the opposition. I hope they have something more substantial too, if the tops are all you wear on the bench at Harrogate Railway Athletic on a Tuesday night in January, you are going to catch your death of cold.

Mark McLaughlin warms up

The weather was not the best for a couple of days at the seaside, but the ground had cover on three sides, including the side backing on to the Rugby Club stand. Unfortunately I missed a shot of the home goalkeeper hoofing a rugby ball back over the wall.

Harry Molyneux from the Supporters' Club pointed out that they had centre flags, which you do not see much these days.

They could have redeployed them to the corners. It is not immediately apparent who or what is being supported here, but I think the flag is frayed, so the assistant referee is holding the end so it does not distract the player taking a corner.

There was a welcome return for Jon Bathurst, who re-signed a couple of weeks ago, and now has received international clearance after playing for Rhyl last season.

Jon Bathurst takes a free kick

I finally caught a goal - complete with a look on the defender's face more usually found immediately prior to a rugby tackle. I was not sure if it would be the picture the Merseymart chose, as the background is a bit cluttered, but it came out reasonably well in print.

Sam Corlett heads our goal

I got a decent picture at the other end too. The home side were awarded a dubious penalty, with a yellow card to James McCulloch, which we have applied to have rescinded. With Ciaran Gibson suspended, Adam Reid was keeping goal, and had a good game - and became the third of our goalkeepers this season to save a penalty. Of the three, this is the picture that most looks like a save, without having to take my word for it.

The yellow card was to play a further part a few minutes later, when James McCulloch was given a second yellow card for handball (hence the appeal against the first card). Whilst we were able to hold the home side off up to this point, they proved too strong for 10 men, so we came away without the points.

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

Final score: Scarborough Athletic 2, Prescot Cables 1 (Corlett)

Second chance

Whenever anyone refers to being on the road to Wembley in the FA Cup, I would be better equipped to make a witty response if I were to keep abreast of whether Wembley FC are still in the competition. Still, as a result of very much playing to the final whistle, Prescot Cables were still in, with a replay at home to 1874 Northwich, if not for the Cup, then for an away fixture at FC United of Manchester in the next round, the attendance for which is likely to provide a welcome injection to club funds for the winner.

We probably had a slight advantage: it is often said the best way to defeat opponents from a higher league is to kill the tie off at home. However, Northwich would not be giving us an easy ride.

They were playing in claret, not a popular first choice colour at this level, so it makes a logical away colour. It is not the brightest of colours under lights but at least it is not dark red.

Jack Phillips

It had been a sunny day, so we started brightly enough, although the sun soon went down.

Jack Hont

Our visitors contributed to a healthy crowd of 291, so there was unaccustomed company for those of us who frequent the gasworks side.

The crowd pays close attention to James McCulloch's options for a free kick

Most people thought the first half had been fairly even, although I thought the visitors had the better of it, based on an unscientific assessment of the time my lenses were trained on our end of the pitch.

For the second half I was a bit slow going round to the gasworks side, so I was behind the goal when Rob Doran advanced for our first goal. In normal light it would have been a great picture, but it did not work with all the light coming from the side, even with the "goal is a goal" principle.

Rob Doran

We might need to establish a "penalty save is a penalty save" principle, with the honours this time falling to Ciaran Gibson.

Ciaran Gibson maintains our lead

With the visitors drawing level shortly afterwards, extra time was looming, when, in the last minute, Rob Doran struck again, another goal with no picture. Having got out of jail in the first game, we were through to the next round.

Of course these games are not good for the nerves. They are not good for the mental faculties either. On the way to the Sun for a drink with the pharmacologists, I was buttonholed outside the Hope & Anchor by one of our players, who had not been in the squad, and to whom I had spoken earlier in the ground, who wanted to refresh his memory of the correct name of our opponents. For some reason, I felt the need to tell him the score and competition as well.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Doran 2), 1874 Northwich 1

The Posh Spice reunion

Off the field, the draw for the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup looked a good proposition - a game away to local, well supported opposition, 1874 Northwich, which gave the prospect of some gate receipts being left over to share without being eaten up by travel costs. Our hosts were formed when Northwich Victoria left the town, by supporters who felt the club now playing at Flixton were unlikely to return to Northwich, or to be an adequate continuation of the history and tradition of Northwich Victoria. Currently they play at Winsford United.

The walk from the station is through a residential area. There was evidence of an Oddfellows' Arms, converted into a convenience store, which seemed not to have been convenient, as it in turn had closed. The only pub on the way was the Prince's Feathers, a friendly establishment, somewhat lacking in its beer range, but with some.decent bottled ciders.

On the field, we were expecting a tough game, with Northwich having made a good start to their season. The.ground once had a greyhound track round the pitch: I remember the track lights still being there when I last visited for a pre season game a few years ago. I took up position in line with the goal we were attacking.

Stephen Milne

One of the home stewards, having confirmed I was photographing for the club website, invited me to go on the pitch side of the rails, on the old track, but I opted to stay put.

Having commented in pre season that not many clubs play in green, once again we encountered the second opponents in a row in the colour.

James McCulloch

There was some co-ordinated singing from the other side of the ground, which we tend not to do much, only when we have a full turnout for an away game. Eventually I recognised a group we had last seen in our relegation season of 2008-9. For ease of reference, we will call them the Posh Spices, after one of their more memorable songs, a scurrilous rhyme about which of our players Mrs Beckham may have had in mind when spending time with her husband. They were students then, and picked our FA Cup game at Congleton Town out of a hat, then came to five or six other games that season, including having a Celebrations tin they were using as a makeshift drum at Witton Albion confiscated on the grounds it was not a proper instrument. With our first Saturday foray into Cheshire in the FA Cup since then, they were having a reunion.

The Posh Spices watch Mark Kilroy - as does a supporter who happened to be standing next to them

I was standing next to the group for the second half, which was an amusing way to spend it, although I was at risk of not being able to hold the camera steady. Being 1-0 down at half time, and Northwich scoring almost immediately after the restart, things did not look good, although Charlie Stoker restored hope with a goal shortly afterwards. I sent this shot to the Merseymart as being his heading for goal, although at this point he has some distance to go.

Charlie Stoker

A third goal from Northwich seemed to have put the game out of reach as the rain started.

Jack Hont

A welcome return by Rob Doran made a difference, with one of his shots being put wide for a corner which led to a bundled goal from Liam Dodd.

Rob Doran

Liam Dodd

The game still looked to have slipped away, until a long range shot from Assistant Manager Neil Black secured a replay when we would have had no cause for complaint if we had been knocked out, and kept the Posh Spices still singing when I left a few minutes later to catch my train.

Neil Black

The team celebrate having another chance on Tuesday

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

Final score 1874 Northwich 3, Prescot Cables 3 (Stoker, Dodd, Black)

Bank holiday weather

We have a number of rather unusual Bank Holidays in the United Kingdom (along with the Republic of Ireland, who derive them from the same Victorian legislation), in that they celebrate nothing more than that the banks are closed, rather than being tied to a religious or national festival as in most of Europe. The time at which they occur has some significance, with a holiday in August coming from Lammas, the baking of the first loaf from the new harvest. This is at the beginning of the month, and Scotland and Ireland still have a holiday at this time. England and Northern Ireland moved it to the end of August in an attempt to extend the season in holiday resorts. This could not, however, extend the good weather or stop the nights drawing in, so it is quite often cold and wet. This year was no exception.

At our level, our bank holiday games are usually against local opposition, and with the FA Cup Preliminary Round not being until the following week, there was no danger of postponements due to replays. Prescot Cables hosted Burscough.

Our visitors had the same kit as last year. I could not capture the colour very well in the sun at the end of last season, although oddly it looks a bit better in the grey light of this fixture.

James McCulloch

Burscough goalkeeper Tim Horn is well known to us, both for liking to wander, and for being quite vociferous. With injury particularly affecting our potential scorers, although there was good news that Rob Doran had been able to play for the Reserves at the weekend, we were likely to find goals hard to come by. However, we were able to keep Tim on his toes.

Yunus Giwa

One good aspect of our start to the season is our clean sheets, something we have often found difficult in the past, with goalkeeper Ciaran Gibson growing in confidence and working well with his defence.

Jack Phillips, Liam Dodd, Ciaran Gibson

With this combination, and the intermittently wet and blustery conditions, a goalless draw came as not much surprise - with a positive point being a third clean sheet in four games. and of course a point is a point, and they all add up at the end of the season.

The Management watch Joe Evans

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

Final result: Prescot Cables 0 Burscough 0