Amongst the Hartleys

Some who know me from Surrey may be pleased to know that on visiting Colne, I found the name of Hartley is a distinguished one. Former residents include Sir William Pickles Hartley, who made his fortune by ignoring his name and making jam; and Wallace Hartley, the band leader on the Titanic, who is commemorated by a memorial and, possibly not entirely as a devout Methodist would have wished, a branch of J.D.Wetherspoon. Having arrived well in time for Prescot Cables' game, I caught my first sight of the ground, on top of the next hill.

I took a few pictures around the town, then adjourned for refreshment. I eschewed Mr Hartley's Wetherspoon's in favour of the East Lancashire CAMRA pub of the year, Boyce's Barrel, where a customer's friendly Golden Retriever carefully inspected me on entry before escorting me to the bar.

Approaching the ground, I heard our team being announced. The acoustic from outside was not very good, as I thought I had never heard of half the names. Once inside I saw that, whilst there were changes you would expect trying to arrest a run of heavy defeats, I knew everyone. Antony Shinks returned to the team, having spent the summer working in the United States.

Antony Shinks

I normally identify the opposition by boots and haircuts, so the chap with the red mohican would be easy enough to spot.

Colne's ground has an unusual slope, the side with the dugouts being more or less flat, but the stand side sloping steeply down into one corner.

Ben Cartwright throws in down the slope

This drops sharply beyond the pitch perimeter, with a normal height (about 3'6") fence on the pitch side reaching almost to my chin on the spectator side, almost the right side for a makeshift monopod. Books on sports photography suggest taking as low a position as possible, and the lie of the land provides one. I was happy with the results, directly in front of me ...

Jack Phillips

... and at the other end of the pitch.

James McCulloch

The sun gave the impression of mist at a couple of angles (for those who have seen other pictures, this was not drifting smoke).

Jonah O'Reilly

Colne gained the upper hand after about 15 minutes, when we conceded a goal and a penalty in quick succession. A third was added after half an hour. We have had difficulty at both ends for the last few weeks, with our last goal from open play scored by Joe Nicholson at Scarborough (our goals in the intervening period being from a penalty and an own goal).

Joe Nicholson

Joe's brother Josh broke the drought just before half time.

Josh Nicholson

Club Solicitor Peter Kneale told me the view from the dugout side was worth a look, so I followed legal advice and inspected it at half time.

The hosts restored their advantage early in the second half. Substitutions gave a more attacking formation, although this did not work out, not least as Lloyd Dean was only able to play for about 15 minutes before dislocating his shoulder.

Lloyd Dean

Having used all our substitutes, and therefore down to ten men, it seemed too good to be true not to concede again, with Colne's final goal coming in the last minute of injury time.

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

Final score: Colne 5 Prescot Cables 1 (Josh Nicholson)