He'll have to score another one

At Prescot Cables' game at home to Mossley at the weekend, Player Manager Neil Prince made the best possible start with a goal from 20 yards in the first minute, whilst I was still attaching my lenses. "Well, he'll have to score another one if he wants to get in the paper", I observed. However, unless a goal is scored by a player coming on late in the game, there will almost always be an alternative picture I can use. I sent this one in.

Neil Prince

There was no lack of trying to get the elusive second goal, with shots from six or seven of the team, but all went wide or found the goalkeeper. One came my way, safely elbowed away from the camera. I keep a UV filter on lens lens for such an eventuality. There are different opinions on this: some consider any impact likely to break a filter will break the lens as well, and a low cost filter may degrade the image. I am taking pictures for the web and newspaper print rather than A2 prints, so the optical effect is probably negligible, and the most likely cause of damage is not an impact, but a scratch keeping the front of the lens clean in less than optimal conditions.

We had two players making their first appearances, who had their share of shots.

Daniel Whitehall

Steven Boothham

Our domination of the first half was to no avail, with Mossley scoring after about 30 minutes and again just after half time, to take all the points back to the hills. This was disappointing, when we had so many chances to score, but there is a strong feeling we will come right in front of goal and get the scores our performances have earned.

Commenting after the game, Neil Prince stressed the need to be more effective in front of goal, stating we are not a team that can sit back and defend a one goal lead. There speaks a striker! It is the way I like to see us play too, attacking is easier for the photographer, and it only takes one error to wipe out a slender lead. You could try to eliminate errors, with players who make them disappearing from the field of play, in some cases never to be seen again, but I never enjoyed that when Shaun Reid tried it.

Examining the pictures closely, sometimes odd little details jump out. Socks are small, easy to miss gathering the kit after the game, and the item most prone to damage. It is an argument for having plain socks in a common colour - it is easy to buy emergency replacements. This year our socks have been black, with an amber top, the latter feature not having weathered well. Replacements will stand out for a few weeks - this week Jonah O'Reilly had drawn the new pair out of the bag.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 1 (Prince), Mossley 2

A tree trunk bridge too far

Wikipedia tells us that the name of Bamber Bridge comes from Old English, meaning a tree trunk bridge. How useful this is depends on the tree: an old oak may manage some sort of cart, whereas a silver birch is going to be wobbly even on foot.

A small but select group took various trains to assemble in the Old Black Bull in Preston for pre match refreshments. I went for a Westward Ho! from Summerskills of Plymouth. A chap I knew from Westward Ho! would not be impressed: he maintained the apple orchards round Barnstaple Bideford Bay were distinct from south Devon and its beer drinking ways. As my grandmother was born in the area, I felt obliged to give it a try anyway. Some of us were previously in the Dog & Partridge, whose new beer range was not universally popular, and where we met some Bradford City fans thinking of visiting us in a couple of weeks when their FA Cup game on Sunday gives them a free Saturday.

The bar and tea bar at Bamber Bridge are always worth a visit, Richie, our leader in beer and pub choices, was looking forward to a butter pie. I went for the chips and rather decent curry sauce, saving the clubhouse for after the game and a pint of Outstanding 3.9, brewed in Bury with a global selection of hops.

This was always going to be a difficult game, with the hosts making a strong challenge in the playoff positions, and we were missing a few players due to injuries and unavailability. Jonah O'Reilly became Johan on the team sheet, which the announcer then pronounced in the same way as the outgoing leader of the Scottish Labour Party.

Jonah O'Reilly

Some of the players unable to join us were amongst those whose playing style and position make them good for a photo, and who are well represented in the pictures I send to the Merseymart. Having said that, I think the position has more to do with the likelihood of a good picture: the players in those positions today did not disappoint.

Callam Gardner

The hosts went ahead after half an hour with a goal from Alistair Waddecar, who, someone remarked, always seems to score against us. Not that we should take it personally, he is known for scoring against a lot of other clubs as well.

I was quite pleased not to be playing.

For the start of the second half, I took up position on the slighty awkward covered standing. The floodlights are in an asymmetrical arrangement, with two pylons on the stand side of the pitch, and four on the other. I am not sure which provides the best light, but the background was starting to come out a bit misty

Andy Griffiths

After a few minutes, I moved round to a position under the floodlight near the dugout.

James Edgar

I was there as we prepared our final substitution. Matt West was ready and waiting, the board was ready, and the assistant referee had flagged, with Andy Mawdsley receiving treatment in the penalty area. I was exchanging pleasantries with Danny Graham, called up from the Reserves that morning to cover for an unexpected gap in the lineup, who was taking light exercise to keep warm thinking he would not be required. However, it became apparent Andy's injury was serious (a suspected fractured ankle), and Danny was hastily called back to the bench to come on instead.

Andy Mawdsley

The only decent picture I got of Danny Graham

This blog extends best wishes to Andy for a speedy recovery.

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

Final score: Bamber Bridge 2, Prescot Cables 0

Out of the cups

Of 21 Doodson Sport Cup games last Tuesday, 11 had an attendance of less than 100, so, unless you are playing the club next door (and losing five times to Skelmersdale United in a season is not fun), the match officials' fees and away team's travel will wipe out the gate receipts, and the bar and tea bar will not do much business either. It would have been easy to stay at home for our game against Buxton, but the team did not have the choice, and I knew they would take the competition as seriously as any other, so the least I could do was turn up.

With no points at stake, and as far as I am aware no prize money, it was another opportunity to try new players.

James Edgar, Jack Golding

I am not a tactical expert, but I think we were trying a new formation, Jack Phillips was wearing a number to which we are not accustomed.

Jack Phillips

When I have grounds to show interest in league cups, as with Prescot Cables in the North West Counties League in 2002, or Dulwich Hamlet in 2013, teams competing for promotion (from any division) seem often to do well. With Buxton second in the Premier Division, they were the favourites, and confirmed this with a goal after about half an hour, adding a second at the beginning of the second half. However, we did not regard the game as lost, and seemed to be stronger in attack as the half went on.

Phil Bannister, Joe Evans

I had been a bit concerned at Farsley when we lost the game to two goals in the last 5 minutes - this used to be a big problem, which was addressed under Dave Powell, and seems largely to have been held at bay under the present management. It was therefore good to see we kept up the pressure and scored from James Edgar in the 90th minute. We could not manage a second to take the game to penalties, but it was what we need to see.

We currently have some journalism students from the University of Chester working creating a WordPress site, Wallopers Way, with content to augment the club website. They tried a poll for Man of the Match for this game, with Jack Phillips the winner.

I aim in my pictures to show our own players, for them and for our supporters. However, when I tweet a link (not too many, I am mindful of the Prime Minister's advice on overuse of Twitter), I include the opposition, so they can retweet if they wish, especially if they have not had anyone taking pictures for them. This time I had a message on Google+ from the mother of one of the Buxton substitutes thanking me for capturing her son's first team debut, which she had not been able to attend.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 1 (Edgar), Buxton 2

Far, far, Farsley away

Our Prescot Cables train crew was a one person operation for our visit to Farsley AFC - only three had signed up to the event on Facebook, then Richie, our leader in beer and pub choices, reported he had failed a late fitness test. I took the 10:22 as planned, so I had time for refreshment in Leeds. In Costa Coffee the staff were in their Christmas fancy dress already, so after I had my morning cup and stopped twitching, I adjourned to Mr Foley's Cask Ale House, where beers are now served in a traditional receptacle.

York Brewery Pilau Weisse

Heavy rain had been forecast, but it had stopped by the time I got to the ground, which was just as well, the covered standing is only at one end, and is some way back from the pitch. It was good news too for the community bonfire hosted by the club after the game: someone was bringing an old sofa to add to it as I arrived.

The pitch perimeter barrier is just the right height, and presents a nice flat top for refreshments. The price of pies has stayed the same for a while, so inflation has made the rather expensive pie of a couple of seasons ago a more average priced offering, especially with the still economical peas and gravy.

We had a good first half, and were rewarded after half an hour with a goal from Jack Phillips. I got a picture, of sorts.

Whilst it is good enough for the web, the goalkeeper is not in focus, and there is too much green space in the middle. Goals are the key part of the story in the paper, so I always try to include a picture of the scorers (which can be unfair on defenders who have been working just as hard at the other end): I sent this one instead.

Half time is always a danger when you are playing well, particularly when the opposition are not displaying the form that has brought them recent good results: there is always the chance they will be able to regroup. This was the case here, and with the sun setting and the lights having been switched on just after half time, I was not getting the best of pictures from our own half. There were enough moves forward to keep me busy.

Joe Evans

For the last few minutes I moved round to the side, under the floodlight pylon near the dugout.

Assistant Manager Neil Black

We made a couple of enforced substitutions as I got there, with Sam Corlett and Jack Phillips coming off injured. The referee seemed to take a cavalier attitude to injuries, continuing play for over a minute with Sam motionless in the centre circle until play stopped with a Farsley shot going for a goal kick. He later uttered the immortal words "roll him off" when Mason Ryan took a knock three or four yards in from the touchline. Mason was limping for a while afterwards, but all our substitutions had been used.

Mason Ryan passes to Phil Bannister

We looked as though we would be able to hold on, but Farsley were able to score an equaliser on 87 minutes, and an injury time winner.

On the way home, the train between Leeds and Manchester can seem like the 10A bus, all human life is there. An annoying chap obstructed the doors whilst people were getting off at Leeds to bag a table, and was promptly joined by a group of overseas students. He solemnly told one of them he was not allowed to carry explosives on the train, and he would inform a member of staff. A few minutes later, he returned with the bemused conductor, who looked at the suspected sticks of dynamite and explained that, "even from here, I can see they are the handles of the gentleman's badminton racquets". The look our companion gave when he got off at Huddersfield suggested he was not convinced, and expected to hear later that we had all been blown to smithereens by a booby trapped shuttlecock.

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

Final score: Farsley AFC 2, Prescot Cables 1 (Phillips)

An evening at home

This season we have had a distinct lack of evening games in the League - this week saw just our second at home, we have had two away, with only a couple of postponements. Oddly, the league have planned a full programme for the Sunday between Christmas and New Year on the grounds that so many clubs have progressed to the First Round of the FA Cup. Whilst this is true, I am sure it could be resolved, and, as our league usually schedules for Boxing Day, Saturday and New Year's Day, whereas the Ryman and EvoStik Southern play two out of three, I am not convinced exceptional circumstances were entirely unwelcome.

However, the immediate business this week was a game against Radcliffe Borough, who have had a mixed start to the season since they beat us in our first away game in August, so a win was necessary to improve our place in the table relative to a team in a similar position to us. With so few evening games, I had become a bit unused to our own ground and floodlights at night. Our visitors were in red, not the most reflective of colours. That made sense of the decision to use our away kit against Goole, it avoided a rush to launder the home kit.

Former Cables player Danny Lambert defends against Sam Corlett

Our best light is to be found along the touchlines, and I position myself on the quieter gasworks side. There is an element of luck in what I am able to capture at an evening game, so I did not get anything usable of any of our goals

For the first, Rob Doran was brought down for a penalty, which he converted, and the defender was adjudged to have denied a goal scoring opportunity, taking Radcliffe down to 10 men.

Rob Doran

A wide view of the goal tends to be quite well lit.

There is also a video of Ciaran Gibson saving this free kick, taken from behind the goal.

The result was made secure in the second half, with a first goal for the club from James Gardner, and a late one to add to the goal difference from Matty West.

James Gardner

Matty West

It has been a mild autumn, and there was just dew forming on the grass, rather than the frost we often see by this time of year. As the heating was off in the bar, I did not linger after the game, although my house was similarly cool, I have also been taking advantage of the weather to keep the gas bill down.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 3 (Doran (pen), J Gardner, West), Radcliffe Borough 0

Swapping colours

Prescot Cables' game in the FA Trophy against Goole AFC, was our second of the week against a team of Vikings, both Widnes and Goole referring to our longboat-travelling chums on their club crest. Fortunately, the visitors did not bring any of the alarming looking (but probably harmless) insect life that lives at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds.

Both teams were playing in their away kit, Goole in yellow, and us in red (our respective home colours are the other way round). This was listed in the programme, so it must have been convenient for one or both clubs (both teams had home games a couple of days later). Whilst supporters often prefer home colours, I do not think it makes much difference, players are used to playing in different colours, and if they cannot remember to pass to someone in the colour they are wearing, they probably need to consider switching to something like tennis. The visitors' kit was a traditional design with a smart collar.

Neil Prince

This was the first weekend after the clocks went back, and the weather was cloudy, so the floodlights were on throughout. If rules are the same as for the FA Cup, the cost will come from gate receipts before they are shared, along with the away team's travel and the match officials' expenses, so I suspect the only side to make anything will be the winners. Goole agreed in the previous round that their game at Burscough would be played to a conclusion to avoid likely losses from a replay.

We started strongly, with a goal after about 15 minutes - I captured a decent sequence, with Rob Doran exercising superb ball control under pressure ...

... passing in to Jack Phillips ...

... who found Sam Corlett to put it away.

Things started to go wrong with a some individual errors from about half an hour in, although it is arguable that poor refereeing put us in a position to make some of them in the first place. Whatever the cause, Goole took full advantage, scoring three goals.

The situation was not irretrievable, half time gave the opportunity to regroup, and we came out stronger in the second half. A second goal, of which I did not get a photo, came from Mason Ryan, who dispatched a shot from the edge of the penalty area with sufficient force that the Goole keeper could not hold it, and could only watch as it bounced into the goal.

Mason Ryan

We could not find the third goal to secure a replay, and Goole made the result sure with a penalty near the end of the game.

Winning a round in each of the FA Cup and Trophy, and the gate at FC United of Manchester means club funds have done better from the FA competitions than in previous seasons, and every source of income counts.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Corlett, Ryan), Goole AFC 4.

The bright lights of the big stadium

Last week saw Prescot Cables in the first round of the Liverpool Senior Cup away to Widnes FC. The Select Security Stadium is the home of Vidnes Wikings, as I think my Finnish friend Max calls them - his first language is Swedish, and like many speakers of languages with no labio-velar approximant (the English w), he has trouble remembering whether it applies to a v or w. The capacity of the stadium is 13,350: the crowd was 127. A mismatch of that magnitude can feel like rattling in a small corner. However, at Widnes, the whole south stand is open, which allows spectators to spread themselves out as they would in a smaller ground.

Lighting is provided by a number of heads (about 15) along the roofs of the north and south stands. I do not have a lighting plan, but a newspaper report suggests the requirement for Super League is 1000 lux. Modern lighting is efficient reducing spillage, so walking from the bus I saw less lighting of the night sky than from many less powerful installations.

1000 lux does not give shutter speeds and apertures five times as good as the 200 lux with which I am familiar. I tried some shots at 1/320s - this one gives some idea of what this will give us (after enhancement), but most of my usable shots were at 1/250s.

There were a lot of additional reflections to take into account. There is a 3G pitch, which can be on the shiny side.

Joe Evans

The seats' reflections are different from each stand. The east has the logo of Halton Council, which looks fairly new. I was last there a few years ago for a rugby match, in which the visitors were an incarnation of London. The Council logo was a single lower case "h" - in which one wag observed there were the right number of seats for each of the London supporters to sit on one of them. As many of the seats in the new arrangement are white, new and shiny, this enhanced lighting at this end, with the chance of a grain free picture...

Sam Corlett

... although there was an issue with backlighting.

Callam Gardner and former Cables player Fraser Ablett

The north stand had Wikings, er, I mean Vikings, in white seats against black. They look like they have been there a while, and have lost most of their shine.

Jack Phillips with the north stand in the background

The west stand has the stadium sponsor's logo, also new. These cast the most difficult reflections, a mainly black background with numerous points of light, so I got the least usable shots here, and less in the second half (playing towards this stand) than the first.

Liam Dodd in front of the west stand - taken in the first half

I did not inspect the south stand closely, although from the lack of reflection behind me, I suspect these seats were of a similar vintage to the north.

At evening games, I usually do not extend my 70-300mm lens beyond about 200mm, which gives a maximum aperture of about f/5.3. With the lighting, I was not so concerned about this, but I found the longest focal length of a usable picture was 210mm, in the picture of Liam Dodd above.

We can realistically aspire to win the Liverpool Senior Cup, as only about 20 teams enter it, and Neil Prince took Bootle to the Cup a couple of seasons ago. However, neither prize money or points are at stake, so it provides the opportunity to try some changes, a number of players were resting or unavailable (not many clubs play on Monday), and some usual starters were on the bench.

Phil Bannister joins the substitutes warming up before resting for this game

After Widnes opened the scoring in the first half, the changes looked to have paid off in the second when two goals from Neil Prince and one from Sam Corlett gave us a 3-1 lead. However, the hosts almost immediately replied, and scored an equaliser in injury time. The resulting shoot out (there is sensibly no extra time) meant we had gone out of the competition on penalties for the fourth time in three seasons - having been reinstated the first time, when Southport fielded an ineligible player.

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

Final score: Widnes 3, Prescot Cables 3 (Prince 2, Corlett); Widnes win 5-4 on penalties.

200 up

The Blogger dashboard tells me this is my 200th post on these pages, which started as photo hints and tips. There are only so many of those, so now I write more about following football at the level of the National Game. Not that I attempt match reports: I tried taking notes when Prescot Cables were without a Press Officer, but it was just as well someone stepped forward, as my reports would have been somewhat mechanical. So, I comment on the pictures, and "a funny thing happened on the way to the match". That is easier about away games: we only visit once a year, so there is usually something new, whereas at home, it is only a couple of weeks since we were last there. All human life is on the 10A bus, but it is often the same life coming round again.

Sometimes I have ideas of material before the game that does not survive events. The visit of Ossett Town was on the feast of Sts Crispin and Crispinian, so I could use a few lines from Henry V - it refers to the French, but Yorkshire made a good job of the 'Appen-it's-Grand Départ for the Tour de France, so it is the next best thing. That would have required a win to carry it off, and hopes were high after the win at Salford last week.

This was deflated after a few minutes, when Jonah O'Reilly dealt with an incoming ball, but unfortunately sent it in the one direction we did not want it to go. Sadly, this was to determine the result of the game, as on the whole we defended quite well.

Ciaran Gibson keeps his fellow Yorkshiremen at bay

The match report on the Ossett Town website referred to our putting the ball in the net in the first half, which had me confused, until I remembered Jack Phillips rounded the goalkeeper just as the whistle was blown for offside, so, whilst the ball went into the net, it was already out of play by the time it was dispatched there.

Jack Phillips

Neil Prince opted for a more attacking formation for the second half, replacing Andy Griffiths and Jonah O'Reilly with Mason Ryan and himself.

Mason Ryan

During the half, an aeroplane flew over the ground, trailing a banner advertising a designer clothing outlet. They were not advertising it very well, as everyone on the ground misread what it said. Our Chairman, Tony Zeverona, received a call from someone who had seen the aircraft and thought the banner said "Good Luck Prescot Cables". When it appeared over the ground, having seen it through the 300mm lens, I assured Jon the Pharmacologist, reacquainting himself with daylight after completing his PhD thesis a couple of weeks ago, that it said "Something something Prescot Cables". On closer inspection on the computer screen, I realised it said nothing of the sort, However, if we were fooled, I cannot have caused a rush for a late afternoon purchase of designer clothing.

A light aircraft, a banner and a seagull

We thought we had equalised at about 85 minutes, when Liam Dodd found the net, only for the Assistant Referee to flag for a strongly disputed offside.

Liam Dodd

The pharmacologists are nothing if not scientific, and James, who has refereed in the County Premier League, explained in response to this decision that he often judged offside by looking to see who is in an offside position, and listen for the ball being played. The speeds of sound and light came up, which the assembled group did not think would make much of a difference. As I am nothing if not a pedant, I shall look at the point in a future post - there will be sums, and possibly diagrams.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 0, Ossett Town 1