Nineteen

It was only some fortuitously placed roadworks on the way from Northwich Station to Witton Albion, where Northwich Victoria play, that made me think twice before confidently heading off down the wrong road. Once going in the right direction, the hiss from the outdoor steam pipe trunk distribution venue seemed louder than in November, although it is not yet emitting anything visible. For those who like football with industry in the background, Witton offers a suitable vista. I am not sure whether this is where they generate the steam, or if they pipe it in.

I usually look for a team sheet, but I do not make an exhaustive search, as someone usually puts it online, and I only need it after the game for captions. Had I seen one, I would have noticed something I had been anticipating for some weeks. With the proviso that I do not know the exact age of James Burke, standing in for Marcus Burgess, I was confident that, for the first time, I had been watching the club since before the starting lineup had been born. Not only that, but the average age of the outfield (and I think this applied to the whole XI, James Burke did not look that old) was 19, which I do not recall seeing before.

With four games in eight days, we needed to spread resources, so it made sense to put out some younger players, particularly those playing their first season at this level, for a full 90 minutes against strong opposition.

Andy Scarisbrick

Connor Grainger - returning from representing Knowsley in the Dallas Cup

After five minutes, Danny Flood was injured and replaced by James McCulloch - who was about 6 months old when I started watching, and just took the average back into the 20s.

The hosts scored twice in the first 20 minutes, and we were not without chances, with Rob Doran and James Edgar having the ball gathered from their feet, and Rob having a penalty turned down after being pushed over in mid air. We pulled one back shortly before half time. I am not sure what the sight of Rob Doran considering his options for a free kick does to the opposition but it scares me!

In this case, he elected to go directly for goal. The perimeter fence is some distance back from the goal line, which means I need to be near the corner flag to get a decent angle without the net in the way. The reward is being able to get a shot like this.

There was a presence from the landlords at half time, maintaining their playing surface.

In the second half, the hosts showed they had no intention of letting the game slip, with three goals in a ten minute spell. Despite the game being out of reach, we were still looking for goals with a second consolation coming from James Edgar.

James Edgar

When I reported back to my friend Roger, I managed to add another to the opposition tally. It may have been to do with not having had much to eat or drink due to a slight bug, being dehydrated, lacking carbs, and rustling up goals as a figment of my imagination. I did the same at Farsley at the beginning of the year. This time I did not even have a disallowed goal to explain it, the balance for that having been with us.

This was another in a run of games against teams challenging for the playoff positions, in which the hosts remain secure despite having had points deducted for fielding an ineligible player earlier in the season.

The rest of the pictures can be seen on the club website here, and on Google photos here.

Final score: Northwich Victoria 5 Prescot Cables 2 (Doran, Edgar).