Farsley - for a family day out

I planned to catch the 1022 to Prescot Cables' game at Farsley Celtic, but as soon as I woke up I thought this might not be a good idea. I was suffering from the after effects of a bug I picked up over Christmas. So, I was relieved when my travelling companions decided not to go for the drinks we had planned in Leeds, and I could have an extra hour in bed before catching the team coach. When I arrived, informal segregation was in place, with the players looking bright eyed and bushy tailed on one side of the street, and the travelling spectators looking slightly less so on the other.

The coach was a little delayed, as most of the vehicles had been out of use for a couple of weeks, and had trouble starting. I was half expecting the game to be called off, although Farsley's pitch drains well, and the area seemed less affected by rain than at home. There was a sign on the motorway warning of fog patches: it seemed a rather large patch, roughly the size of Yorkshire.

I was pleasantly surprised to be joined at the game by Dr Luke and his parents. Luke was returning to work in Nijmegen the following day, so Farsley seemed a good family day out (I know his father enjoys his football, something Luke only picked up when he started to watch Cables, so it made sense). I was starting to wonder how wise I had been leaving the house, as I did not even feel up to one of Growlers' pies.

We were playing towards the uncovered end, so, following events a couple of weeks ago, I made particular checks on my cover, and took up position level with the edge of the penalty area, near a floodlight pylon. I was definitely under the weather, and knew I was not going to keep up with adjusting my settings every few minutes, so I used the sports mode at ISO 6400 for the first half.

Charlie Duke makes his first start

I still did not get nearly as many frames as usual. We had held our own against a team on a good run of form, and the game was goalless at half time.

The home goalkeeper denies Darryl Patton

For the second half, I sat in the stand, which gives a decent view, and, with the tea bar, toilets, etc being the same side as the covered standing, not much foot traffic in front. I notched my ISO up to 12800, which served for most of the half, only needing to go up to 16000 in the last ten minutes or so.

Lloyd Dean

I do not generally attribute match losing decisions to the officials: what the players do is far more decisive, even when decisions go against you. However, the referee put the game out of our reach when he dismissed Marcus Burgess. My view of the foul was blocked by other players, but I saw the ball cross the line directly afterwards. I also only heard the whistle, but taking into account the speed of sound (worth a quarter of a second to where I was sitting), I am sure the referee blew it after the ball went in the goal. That would be consistent with his performance all afternoon, with free kicks frequently given after the ball had been played three or four times after the original foul.

On the basis of play being stopped by the whistle rather than the referee thinking about it, Farsley's goal should have stood, as the ball was in play when it went in. We would have been 1-0 down with a full team to try and get a goal back. As it was, the goal was disallowed. James Edgar went in goal, giving a creditable performance, but conceding the resultant penalty and two goals in quick succession at about 80 minutes meant the hosts continued their current good run of form.

James Edgar

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

Final score: Farsley Celtic 3 Prescot Cables 0.