Showers, heavy at times

For Prescot Cables' game away at Ossett Albion. I had something to do in the morning, so I took a late train to get there just before kick off. There was a police presence between Huddersfield and Dewsbury, although not I suspect for non league supporters attending an inter county fixture, but more likely keeping an eye on what can sometimes be an unruly rail based pub crawl.

Although I was not on one, Arriva's shiny new vehicles with leather seats and WiFi came in handy. The construction of Dewsbury Bus Station approaches a Faraday cage, as I found out when I could not get a mobile signal to validate my m-ticket. The solution was to sidle up to one of the new buses and use its WiFi footprint, hoping it would not depart before I had finished.

At this time of year we are usually past the season for postponements, but there had been heavy rain overnight. One postponement was Warrington Town v Darlington 1883, the decision taken early to avoid the away supporters making a long wasted journey. Errr...

Arriving in Ossett, I was greeted by what might be called a drying wind - one of the few occasions I thought a monopod might be useful as I was being buffeted by the strong crosswind. Watching the players warm up, and able to shelter behind a wall, it was, however , pleasantly warm. The game started in bright sunshine.

Neil Prince

The home goalkeeper took an early knock gathering the ball at the feet of Jack Phillips, who did his best to jump out of the way.

Jack Phillips is unable to avoid colliding with Brett Souter

The weather was not to last: the forecast predicted light showers, but what came down in the last 20 minutes of the first half was anything but light and a bit long for a shower. The photo effects were good but I was glad not to be playing in it. There is cover at the clubhouse end, even if the wind was blowing the rain through the small gap between the stand and the groundsman's shed.

James McCulloch

When it is windy and raining, you can usually find a wall behind which to shelter, which I did, aided by a tree. Our club solicitor, Peter Kneale, was reminiscing about when he first visited the ground in the eighties with his father, and it was open on the cricket club side, rather than the current rather narrow terracing.

The rain eased off for the second half, and we were soon back in sunshine.

Liam Dodd

It was a frustrating half, we were unable to make an attack count, and fell to a goal from the hosts in the last ten minutes - a disappointing result after playing so well and nearly securing a point against Salford in midweek.

Leaving the ground, there is a vestige of the days Peter was referring to, as the exit gate takes you straight on to the cricket club's outfield.

After refreshment in the Tap, I caught the bus back to Dewsbury. Travel apps are improving all the time, but I have yet to find one that is completely reliable. In West Yorkshire, nextbuses.mobi based apps give real time information, not just timetables. You might think the operator's own app would be up to date, as they want to know where their buses are, but that did not seem to be so with Arriva. I have found them previously to be a couple of minutes behind real time. This time, the bus was 10 minutes late, correctly recorded by nextbuses.mobi, whereas Arriva had it as running on time, and then disappearing from view altogether.

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

Final score: Ossett Albion 1 Prescot Cables 0