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