Rain stopped photography

We hoped Prescot Cables' game at home to New Mills would be dry, but rain was forecast to start around kick off, and it followed my bus to Prescot. To say the visitors have not enjoyed a good season is an understatement, as they had played 18 games without gaining a point. Rod, our drummer, was tempting fate pointing out we were not planning to give them a Christmas present when they came in from warming up. I did not catch the reply, but one word sounded like "off".

The pitch had last been used three weeks previously, and looked as though it had benefited from the rest, but the rain was heavy enough for the possibility of the match being abandoned. I took up position on the gasworks side.

Andy Scarisbrick

The weather was warmer than usual, so I did not realise how wet I, and more to the point my equipment, was getting, which would cause a problem later. The match officials seemed to have read that week's You are the Ref, as the referee was responding to the condition of the sides normally used by the assistants by using the right diagonal.

The visitors showed no sign of overcoming their difficulties, and Rob Doran scored after about 10 minutes.

Rob Doran

We consolidated our lead with two goals in quick succession a few minutes later from James Edgar, who has worked hard to keep opposition defences busy but has not been rewarded with goals.

James Edgar celebrates his first goal with George Mannion and Joe Nicholson

New Mills pulled a goal back just before half time, and I headed to the bar with a reasonable set of pictures, although I am still working on not noise reducing away the rain.

I went back to the gasworks side for the second half, where the rain seemed a little lighter, which may have been my imagination. I was starting to have a spot of bother, as I was running out of cloth (a normal handkerchief) for drying the front of the lens, and was just moving the water around. I was just about operational, although I missed James Edgar completing his hat trick in a bit of a goalmouth scramble, and thought Phil Bannister had scored it.

Phil Bannister

Shortly after this I had to stop, as I was suffering from condensation, something I have successfully avoided in seven or eight years taking pictures outdoors, There are precautions, like keeping the camera dry, and putting it in the bag before I go indoors. However, the mild damp weather created a similar environment in the camera, with the wind blowing on to a wet front of the lens creating a temperature difference and condensation. Once I had it, there was not a lot more I could do in the photo department, so I watched the last 25 minutes without viewing through a small rectangular window.

James McCulloch in my last usable picture of the day, half an hour from time

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 5 (Edgar 3, Doran 2) New Mills 2.

Nice cigar, but no try

Prescot Cables planned to make a special occasion of the game at home to Warrington Town, with local Mayors and the Member of Parliament being invited. Unfortunately, whilst the week had been reasonably dry, it rained overnight on Friday, and by Saturday morning the pitch was no longer playable. With most football in Liverpool being postponed, I decided to head for Birkenhead Park. The opposition of the day was Wirral RUFC, from a couple of miles down the road, so they could take a late decision on whether to play. A slippery pitch in football can lead to broken ankles, whereas rugby players are likely to end up flat on their faces in the mud, which is in many ways the idea. Standing water is, however, a problem for everyone.

At the time I needed to leave home, the game was still on, so I bought a ticket. Some refer to Merseytravel's Walrus card as "Oyster style", presumably meaning it is small and plastic. The essential component of Oyster is pay-as-you-go, whereas Walrus is pay-before-you-go, so you need the day planned before you first use public transport, and changes are either wasteful or expensive.

No sooner had I got on the bus, I found the game was postponed. However, Waterloo (one less zone on the Walrus) were still playing. This was against Sheffield, so if there was an announcement, it would have been made by then, although it was still raining heavily. I presented £10 at the turnstiles, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a programme and £7 in return.

I took a position on the terrace side, where there were pools of water: the pitch looked soft but playable. Waterloo were playing into a stiff breeze, with low cloud, and, with the floodlights being under repair, it was fortunate both sides' kit included some white

That did not last long, particularly for the forwards. although some of the backs tend to stay standing for longer.

Soon, mud was starting to merge with facial furniture.

For the second half, the hosts took advantage of being at home, and changed into dry kit, of a colour to do no favours to my exposures.

The referee also changed into something drier, although he was more visible.

This was a low scoring game, more rare in rugby of either code than a few years ago. Better pitches and rule changes have reduced the incidence of matches with pushing and shoving in the mud for 80 minutes finishing 3-0. This was not quite such a game, but the scores came from a penalty apiece in each half. I only attend three or four games a season, but I think this is the  first I have been to where both sides stayed in single figures, and the first where neither side scored a try.

As for the cigar, I was not actually going to attempt to smoke one (the last time I did was when you could do so indoors), it was far to wet for one to stay alight.

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

Final score: Firwood Waterloo 6 Sheffield 6

A visit from the leaders

Before Prescot Cables' game against Northwich Victoria it had rained heavily during the week, but been dry on Friday. Our Chairman was in correspondence on Twitter on Saturday morning with the visitors, advising that the pitch was playable, but its continuing to be so would depend on the weather. A referee was on standby to inspect, although it was not forecast to rain until around 1:30. It arrived a little later than anticipated, when I was at the bus stop following reports on Messenger from the club bar, local public houses and from those stuck with shopping, whilst trying to grasp why so many buses disappeared into thin air on travel apps (they have not invented one whose predictions cope with a sudden traffic jam).

Arriving at the ground a few minutes late, I was surprised to see the places that normally accumulate standing water had drained reasonably well. Low cloud as well as the rain meant lighting conditions were poor, with floodlights required from the outset.

Marcus Burgess was unwell so we saw Ben Morrow return to action for Cables.

Ben Morrow

Andy Paxton's policy is not to have a goalkeeper on the bench, which seems a sensible use of resources, as you rarely replace a goalkeeper unless he is injured or sent off. Ben has been at Widnes - for a young goalkeeper, being on loan a division below and gaining for first team experience is probably more productive than watching from the bench.

I took up position on the gasworks side, quickly realising this was not such a bright idea. After some time of my rain cover flapping in the "breeze", I joined everyone else taking shelter under the stand, which also provided some shelter from the wind. I am still working on a balance between showing rain in a picture and a decent amount of noise reduction.

Danny Flood

I was able to emerge again after a few minutes, to find some water in the goalmouth, but with the pitch otherwise bearing up. I have to admit to losing track of when in the weather related proceedings the visitors scored their first goal (the record says 20 minutes, which suggests in the downpour), but they scored again a minute from time in the first half.

James McCulloch & George Mannion

The second half was drier, so I just had the wind to contend with. We had the chance to score when Rob Doran was fouled just inside the penalty area, but put the resultant kick over the bar. I do not think it made any difference to the outcome: whilst we had a good performance, Northwich are top of the table for a reason, and we did not look like denting their armour.

James Edgar

With the poor lighting conditions, I had a limited range of pictures that came out at print quality. Although the Echo no longer produce the Merseymart supplement, so the shape is not as important as it was, landscape format is still better for their website, where they report on the club most weeks. I try to keep the player libraries at the Echo and TheNonLeague magazine up to date, which is not helped when the most suitable images are of exactly the same four players I sent in from the last game.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 0 Northwich Victoria 2.