Low batteries

I had a function to attend at lunchtime before Prescot Cables' game at home to Northwich Victoria. The recently revamped Traveline website came up with a couple of bus routes I would not have thought of even from the map, so I was able to arrive, suited and booted, only 10 minutes late. I have never understood that phrase, as I have never thought of wearing boots with a suit, but a tie goes a long way to keeping your neck warm.

I was captured on film by the We all stand together blog. Its author also spoke to our announcer, David Williams, who recounted his responsibility for his fellow actor David Walliams' name, his being already registered with Equity under their shared real name. I once recounted this to one of the children at church, a bright boy, aged seven, who asked, "So, when David Williams retires, will David Walliams become David Williams?".

I arrived in time to see Jack Phillips opening the scoring. I was not in time for a picture, but I was not too worried, I know I can get usually get a decent picture of Jack if I need one for the paper, and it was a sunny day, so there would be few problems with the light.

Jack Phillips

Just before I left home, I transferred my camera to a smaller bag to cut down the amount I carried to lunch, forgetting to do the same for the spare battery. As soon as I started taking pictures the low battery indicator started to show, so I knew I had a limited number of frames. To cover as much of the game as possible, I thought back to the days of film, when exposures cost money, taking less of those pictures that are not likely to work, but are worth a try if they are free. I first tried photography 20 years ago, but the ratio of decent pictures to exposures proved costly, and I was never keen on dark rooms and chemicals to do my own cropping.

Restricting myself meant I was mainly concentrating on the half we were attacking. although I still got some in our own half.

Liam Dodd

I also did not snap away as vigorously as usual when a player was running with the ball, taking two or three shots, rather than the normal seven or eight. Whilst this limited the frames from which I could choose to display, I was generally happy with the results.

Jonah O'Reilly

With Ciaran Gibson suspended, Tom Quinn was back in goal. He seemed a bit indecisive in previous games, but this time he was making much more confident interventions, with some good saves, particularly in the first half, which makes a goalkeeper much easier to capture.

Tom Quinn

Talking of goalkeepers, Northwich seemed to have been experimenting with squad numbers.

James Edgar challenges Northwich's Dane Smith

The visitors' pressure was repaid with an equaliser early in the second half. James Edgar, after his heroics in goal against New Mills, returned to his more accustomed role by restoring our lead after about 20 minutes.

My battery ran out 10 minutes from the end, just as as the visitors' strength started to tell, with an equaliser, and then a winning goal in injury time, somewhat controversial, for what many thought had been a foul in the build up, and for the amount of time the referee had added on in the first place.

Elsewhere, Padiham won, which reduces the gap between us, but it was against Radcliffe Borough, so meant they remain only a point ahead of us.

Finally, double congratulations are due to my friend Jon, one of our pharmacologists, who has passed his viva and been awarded his PhD. He is often unable to attend Saturday games due to attending weddings (according to our mutual friend Luke), and will be adding his own to the list, becoming engaged over Christmas: this blog extends best wishes to Jon and his fiancée Sophie.

The rest of the pictures from the game, a slightly smaller collection than usual, can be seen here.

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Phillips, Edgar), Northwich Victoria 3.

Team of the week

At Prescot Cables' game at home to New Mills, a working title for this post suggested itself less than a minute into the game - "Oops". Ciaran Gibson, with an opponent bearing down, confidently gathered the ball - unfortunately two yards outside his penalty area. I was level with the incident, but speaking to Jack Phillips' brother, Anthony, whilst also checking my equipment, and looked up just as Ciaran took the ball. Some said he looked down to check his location before catching the ball. It is possible, "looked but did not see", i.e. looking where you need to but misinterpreting what is in your vision, is a factor in about a fifth of accidents.

It is a popular misconception (held by me until Anthony and my refereeing friend James put me right) that a goalkeeper handling the ball outside his area automatically incurs a red card. The Guidelines for Referees state that the goalkeeper outside his area is subject to the same restrictions as other players, so a red card should only be shown if the handling denies a goal scoring opportunity. This was outside the corner of the penalty area, so getting the ball 25 yards to goal (geometry occasionally comes in handy) with other players nearby is not necessarily an obvious opportunity, possibly more a foul breaking up a promising attack, a bookable offence. Unfortunately referees often act as though the goalkeeper being that far off his line automatically creates a goal scoring opportunity, so we were down to ten men, with James Edgar taking Ciaran's rather large gloves.

James Edgar

New Mills are one of the two clubs below us in the table, and a win would open up the gap. Being a man down meant that a draw would now be a good result. Most of us were expecting the priority to be protecting our goal, with limited scope for much else. However, it was soon clear that attack was still very much on the agenda.

Mason Ryan shoots wide

Our fears seemed to have been realised when the visitors scored on the half hour, but a couple of minutes later, Joe Evans beat the keeper to a free kick from Neil Prince ...

... with James McCulloch making sure it went in.

James' father captioned this picture on the forum as "Kirk pinches Joey Evo's goal as Joe looks on" - I thought at the time that it had gone in from Joe's header, but remember the way a SLR camera works, anything that is in a picture, I did not see myself. All three parties to the challenge were hobbling for a bit, and the defender needed the attention of his injury assessor, who seemed to be equipped with nothing more substantial than a bottle of water.

It looked bleak again when the visitors scored two goals in quick succession after half time, but our team were made of sterner stuff. A further goal from James McCulloch getting on the end of a free kick and one from Jack Phillips in the last minute of normal time, ensured we maintained the points differential.

Jack Phillips celebrates his goal

In a game with six goals, attention will be on the scorers, but this was a complete team performance - some excellent saves from James Edgar, the defence working as a unit to protect him from the trickier stuff that might trouble someone who is not keeping goal every week, superb set pieces from Neil Prince, and the forwards keeping up pressure on the New Mills goal.

Neil Prince

Not only were the team's efforts rewarded with a point, but also with winning the Non League Review Team of the Week poll, which made for a much better title for the post.

Finally, we have a departure and an arrival to report. Phil Bannister, the well deserved winner of the club's Young Player of the Year award last season, has left us to join Dave Powell at Warrington Town. This blog wishes him well in his future endeavours.

Phil Bannister

Coming on from the bench in his first appearance for the club was Ben Greenop, from Chester FC.

Ben Greenop

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 3 (McCulloch 2, Phillips), New Mills 3

Returning friends, departing friends

"We need to silence that drum", a visiting supporter said to his friend at the beginning of Prescot Cables' game against Droylsden. I was concerned that the drum's owner, Rod, might be about to be upended in the bushes at the Safari Park End. Fortunately, they had in mind to drown him out with noise, an endeavour in which they were not successful, but it made for a decent amount of noise at both ends.

Supplying decibels from the dugouts was Droylsden's Assistant Manager, Ged Murphy, who left us to return to his local club at this time last year. It looks as though he has stopped playing to concentrate on coaching, but he was still in full voice. I am not sure about that jacket though.

Ged directs operations

Also with the visitors was Sean Myler, who scored some useful goals for us a couple of seasons ago.

Sam Corlett is challenged by Sean Myler

After rain at the last two games, it was a relief that it was dry by the time the game started, with low sun. At Hope Street, this can give problems with backlighting, particularly against the lighter advertising boards. Using the normal tools for the whole photo does not quite do the trick, or will leave the background washed out, so we have to lighten the player a bit more as with this picture of Danny Flood.

Here is the end result - I think Danny was happy, as it is now his Twitter profile picture.

Danny Flood

The first half was fairly even, until Liam Dodd scored in injury time. It is another picture in the "goal is a goal" category - as a stand alone photo there is too much space in the middle, of which Liam is neatly taking advantage.

Liam Dodd shoots for goal

Droylsden have been top scorers in the division by some distance, although, until our defeats in December they had also let in more than us, so I was sure we had not seen the only goal. My prediction was confirmed on the hour when Andy Fowler, sporting positively Finnish facial furniture (they like to keep their faces warm in the winter), scored for the visitors.

Andy Fowler

We are used to seeing Jack Phillips starting, but having him on the bench paid off, his pace and agility, combined with fresh legs, came at just the right time.

Jack Phillips

Both sides had further chances, but Prescot held on for a hard earned point, a credit credit to all the team and holding Droylsden to their first draw of the season. The Walloper's Way man of the match poll was won by Ciaran Gibson, not least for a save in injury time described by Neil Prince as "world class".

Ciaran Gibson

Although Rob Doran was not playing, our visitors liked him so much they took him away with them. Rob has been one of our best players and team members over the last season and a half, our top scorer last season, and this blog wishes him success in his future endeavours.

Rob Doran at our fixture at Droylsden earlier in the season

The rest of the pictures can be seen here.

Final score: Prescot Cables 1 (Dodd), Droylsden 1

Handy for the railway

Travel to Prescot Cables' game at Burscough on New Year's Day was almost as complicated as Boxing Day, with a limited bus service, Merseyrail operating a Sunday service, and Northern operating a weekday service, apart from local routes in the north east.

The combination allowed us to travel to Burscough Junction, a shorter journey than Burscough Bridge, but a longer walk at the end. My friend Luke observed that the station and the village seemed some distance apart: I replied, not entirely facetiously, that the station was built to be handy for the railway. There are many places where a town or village is some distance from its station, with a story that it was because residents did not want the railway - almost all are incorrect, and easily explained by a map showing that the railway follows the most logical route. The line from Ormskirk to Preston, built mainly for express services, follows a straight line across flat and open land, and has stations where it happens to pass near a settlement.

Team captain James McCulloch gave us a cheery wave as he drove past.

James McCulloch

The players need to be at the ground an hour and a half before the game to change, warm up, hear the manager's team talk etc. The supporters can be more relaxed, so we adjourned to the Hop Vine, which has a dress code - "No urban sportswear please". I was wearing a Cornwall rugby union shirt, but had no trouble being served, so my sportswear was presumably sufficiently rural.

Burscough's current club was founded in 1946. The infeasibly narrow turnstiles may have been erected at the same time: with spectators kept thin by wartime rationing, the builders could hardly have imagined just how large people would become in later years.

We had a couple of not-quite-new faces - Daniel Flood, who had played in the previous two games ...

Daniel Flood

... and Andy Harper, a product of our youth team, making his first competitive start, having been on the bench in the previous game.

Andy Harper

Ciaran Gibson was back in goal, which made my life easier, his playing style and confident demeanour makes him easier to capture than many goalkeepers.

Ciaran Gibson

The Met Office had predicted heavy rain for about 4pm, which would have been the second half had the game not kicked off early because of storm damage to the floodlights. In the event the damage appeared to have been repaired, as the lights were turned on for most of the game, but, having brought the game forward, it was sensible to stick to the rearranged time.

The rain fell quite heavily with a side wind in the first half, when we were attacking the Mart Lane end, which does not have any cover. The rain cover for the camera was blowing about, and at one point I ended up with it over my head in the manner of the user of a large format camera. I was happy with the performance of Mr Barbour's wax topping up the coating of my jacket, and with the rain effects on the photos.

James Edgar

The scores remained level until about 5 minutes into the second half, when Jack Phillips was brought down for a penalty, converted by Neil Prince. We had our best chance for the elusive second goal a few minutes later when Neil took a free kick on the edge of the area, which hit the upright - a knot or two less wind and it would probably have gone in.

Neil Prince

The hosts equalised 10 minutes from the end, but stout defence ensured we still went away with a point.

After the game, it was back to the Hop Vine to discuss important matters, namely trying to persuade Luke that his family home in Radcliffe is in historic Lancashire, of which the southern boundary is the River Mersey. He was not convinced, even by Lancashire playing cricket at Old Trafford (even if not doing so might mean less games when a winning position is lost due to rain). Things are different elsewhere, despite London having had administration across historic boundaries since 1888, the cricket followers at Dulwich Hamlet have no difficulty knowing whether they are from Surrey's broad sunlit uplands or Kent's Slough of Despond.

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

Final score: Burscough 1, Prescot Cables 1 (Prince pen)

The weather comes all at once

I was fortunate that Prescot Cables were at home again for our Boxing Day fixture against Warrington Town. It is one of the busiest days in the sporting and retail calendar, as long as you have your own transport, or live in a city where there might be a skeleton bus service. The 10A was full of people who had been to the sales: I was only able to get on because someone got off at my stop. I do not know whether Shaun Reid went shopping on the way, but his trademark V-neck wooly sweater, in a grey as dark as the sky, was covered by a coat, a garment I had not known until this occasion that he possessed.

Warrington of course have had a successful run in the FA Cup. This can have an adverse impact on league form, and it is by no means a foregone conclusion they will be successful in the games in hand they build up. Nonetheless, we were expecting this game to be a challenge, especially after a heavy defeat at the weekend.

Oscar Durnin

Through the season I deal with all sorts of weather conditions. Usually these come one by one, temperature dropping, cloud cover, rain and wind, so that, by this time of year, I have recent experience of keeping warm, watching the apertures, and using the rain cover. This year has been unusually mild, so my skills are rusty, so I had a spot of bother keeping the rain cover in place, not helped by the realisation that fitting it is another on the growing list of tasks I need to take my glasses off to be able to see.

It was possibly the worst natural light I have seen at an afternoon game, with the floodlights needed from the beginning. All bar the first few pictures of the collection look as though they were taken at an evening game.

Liam Dodd

Conditions like this make pictures a bit of a lottery, I do my best to get all the players in, but this is not always possible in low light. The wind was swirling the rain about, so it took a few minutes to get an idea which side of the ground would have the rain on my back rather than on the front of the lens. I was therefore in the wrong place to catch Sam Corlett's first goal. I was not too concerned, Sam is a gift for the photographer in position and playing style, so I would have one for the paper later, or so I thought.

Those who braved the weather were treated to an excellent performance, the defence looking stronger than for some time, and changes allowing James McCulloch to move to his stronger position in midfield.

James McCulloch

Warrington did not look to be coping well, with two players sent off in the second half for dangerous tackles.

Sam provided a second goal in the last 10 minutes, again on the wrong side of the pitch for me to capture it, even if I had not been dealing with my equipment, including losing the eyepiece when the rain cover detached it (a replacement was cheap and easy to obtain on eBay, once I ploughed through the sellers in China with 3 - 6 week postage times to find one in England who could send it by normal post).

The second goal proved its value in almost the last kick of the game, when Steven Tames, a product of the Cables youth team, broke through for a consolation goal for the visitors.

Steven Tames

Because of the conditions, the final collection was smaller than usual, even more than for the Clitheroe game. I was similarly constrained with what met the criteria for the Merseymart, not being able to send anything of our goal scorer, or not so you would recognise him anyway.

Sam Corlett passes to Jack Phillips

A win against our local rivals who have been on the telly was just what the doctor ordered after the weekend, and it will help many of us to quietly forget the previous result.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Corlett 2), Warrington Town 1