Weather of two halves

We were fortunate having a few dry days before Prescot Cables' home game against Mossley, although conditions were unlikely to be anything other than soft.

Before the match we observed a minute's applause for Linda Scott, who looked after the boardroom and match officials' hospitality for some years, and who died a couple of weeks ago after a short illness. The hospitality work is often not seen by the supporters, but it is important for maintaining good relations with other clubs, the League and County FA, and tributes from other clubs in particular illustrated how well Linda carried it out.

At the start of play, the sun was low in the sky, so the players were moving in and out of shadow, a situation for which auto exposure was invented. I do not think a lot about numbers in photography, you can expend so much effort remembering them you forget the picture. For most settings I just remember directions: faster shutter speeds for better freezing of action; higher ISO for more sensitivity, paid for by more grain. However, the first half repays some technical observation. We started off with a positively summery 1/1600s, f/5.6 at ISO 400.

James Edgar

Looking into the shadow of the stand, there is less light available, giving us 1/500s, f/5.3 at ISO 1600.

Andy Scarisbrick

The automatic settings are very responsive, here is Sam Staunton Turner at 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 1000.

Two seconds later, Sam has moved a couple of yards into more light, so the speed has increased to 1/800s, still at f/5.6 and the sensitivity decreased to ISO 800.

Amidst this technical information, I noticed there were half a dozen new advertising boards, all good revenue for the club. We are keen that you do not let your kids grow up thinking football is a television programme, but when the football is not on and you want to watch television, one of our sponsors will be able to sort out your reception.

Andy Nugent

Emerging after half time, the weather was a bit different.

Joe Herbert and Antony Shinks

I stayed under the stand for the first few minutes, and caught up with Ben Morrow, on loan to Widnes, whose game at Eccleshall had been postponed due to a band of rain further inland. Ben was feeling the cold in a decent coat with a furry hood. His father pointed out there are advantages of not playing in this weather.

Marcus Burgess

Once the worst of the hail had cleared, I went to the gasworks side. The wind was permeating my running gloves, and the shutter release on this camera does not seem as forgiving of slightly angled pressure as my previous one. In the end I had to take my glove off to ensure a fully downward pressure, completing the loss of sensation in my fingers.

We finished the game with eight men after a chaotic last ten minutes. Rob Doran was sent off after becoming involved in a melée, so we will miss him for at least three games in a couple of weeks. Then Charlie Duke was stretchered off after we had used all our substitutes, and having only come on himself a few minutes previously. Finally, Danny Flood, who had also come on from the bench, was chasing a ball with Mossley's Dougie Carroll when they ended up in a heap with Danny coming off worse.

With all this, and Mossley scoring a goal in each half to take the points, there was only one thing to do afterwards, namely warm myself in front of the coal fire in the Sun.

Photo by Steve Heninghem, crop by me

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 0 Mossley 2.