Goals with the wind

The geek in me thought of getting the electric train to Manchester on my way to Prescot Cables' game away at Mossley, but the timetable told me the connections were at the wrong time. As there was a limited turnout from the usual suspects, and Mossley is not packed with tourist attractions, I thought I would make a contribution to club funds by going on the team coach.

Having consulted whatpub.com, I adjourned on arrival to the Fleece, a down to earth establishment a couple of minutes' walk from the ground, where I was joined by Luke and his father Peter, who have relatives involved at the club. Whatpub mentioned that real ale was relatively new to the Fleece, and Peter said it had a reputation in the past for being rough, so the landlord may be using the tried and tested method of using real ale to create a better environment. I could have sworn I saw him puffing on a pipe, which puzzled me: it is illegal to burn anything in it indoors, and, whilst electronic cigarettes are popular, I have never heard of the process in a pipe.

The Met Office app was predicting cloud, down from overcast in the previous day's forecast. but if I had known how good the weather would turn out, I would have got an early train and gone for a walk before the game.

Our timing getting to the ground was perfect, but the referee was ahead of himself, so the game was under way when we got there. There was a fairly strong wind blowing towards the Yorkshire end, and we were playing in to it. I took up position sheltered by the cover at the Lancashire end. Incidentally, I am not aware of anyone else using these descriptions, I devised them from a traditional county map. We started well with a goal from Sam Corlett after 12 minutes.

Sam Corlett sets off for goal

We have encountered the white wall at the Yorkshire end before. Previously this has been in summer time, the difference in the position of the sun from still observing GMT made it less troublesome with the action taking place right in front of it...

Ben Morrow makes a save

,,, and in the middle of the pitch.

Jonah O'Reilly takes a free kick

However, the stand and the trees behind it cast an irregular shadow, which gave a problem with backlighting, as here with Andy Harper. Here is the picture as it came off the camera.

We need to crop the picture and use the selection tool to enable us to lighten the player separately.

Finally we have the finished result.

The Cheshire side (another of my geographical descriptions) provides an easy background with which to work, especially with our players in red.

Oscar Durnin

At half time I had some rather decent chips from the tea bar. Luke also recommended the pies. When someone mentions a pie, I think of my favourites, steak and kidney or pork. I therefore failed to compute Luke's next comment, that the cheese and onion was particularly good, and replied that I was off red meat for Lent (red in this case meaning anything that once had four legs).

The wind played a part in at least one of the hosts' two goals in the first half, but it was dropping in the second. I took up position near the corner flag, having to stay in the shade to avoid being dazzled, so I was cooled by what was left of the wind. A surprising number of people stayed in the cold on the stand side, although some had the good sense to watch in the sunshine.

Tommy and Bob watch Liam Dodd

Although the situation looked retrievable at half time, there was a more scrappy display from both teams in the second half, with Mossley securing a third goal.

After the game I thought we were leaving at 6pm, so went back to the Fleece, only to find myself summoned back to the coach when everyone else was ready to leave 20 minutes earlier. At least I did not need to worry about train connections or trundling slowly through Manchester. Going home from Prescot, there was one success of the day: after several attempts, I got my phone to work with the Wi-Fi on the bright shiny new buses they have put on the 10A.

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

Final score: Mossley 3 Prescot Cables 1 (Corlett)