Brian will be concentrating on the League this year

Travelling on campaign, it is a good idea to send out an advance party to reconnoitre the territory. Ramsbottom is not a difficult expedition, but Facebook updates from a fellow supporter who was combining our game at Ramsbottom United with a trip to the East Lancashire Railway told me that, due to late notice engineering works, there was no fast train to Manchester Victoria, and trams to Bury were off. The notice for the latter on the Metrolink website was posted on Thursday for a weekend closure, which is good for them, if not so handy for those who like to plan well in advance, I once turned up in Manchester to find the closure of the whole southern half of the system was not worthy of any mention.

Although the replacement bus had fewer stops, the normal 135 has a direct route, and, as I would be on a bus either way, I decided to pay a bus fare rather than the premium fare for the tramp, er, I mean tram. From the number of people on the ageing bendy bus, others had the same idea.

After stopping for blood based comestibles in Bury Market, I arrived in Ramsbottom just in time for the game, or would have if the referee had started on time. As it was, I heard the start from the bus stop, and reached the ground at exactly 3pm, with four minutes completed.

There was a light drizzle, so I took up position under the cover at the uphill end, behind the goal we were attacking.

Phil Bannister

We had announced in midweek that our new manager was to be Brian Richardson, the Assistant Manager at Skelmersdale United, so this would be Andy Paxton's last game in charge.

Danny Flood made a welcome return, having spent the last couple of weeks at Winsford United for game time.

Danny Flood

Captaining the hosts was Gareth Seddon, who received national attention playing for Salford City in the BBC's Class of 92 documentary.

Tom Brocklehurst gathers from Gareth Seddon and confirms his order for a dozen slices of Emmental and a quarter of  Shropshire Blue

We were not without movement in the right direction, but the hosts had the better of the game and scored their first after 30 minutes.

We were playing downhill for the second half, which usually makes for better pictures. The rain had stopped, but the sky was darker, and the speeds the sports mode was offering were dropping, so I switched, for the first afternoon game this season, to shutter priority at 1/320s.

Joe Nicholson

Gareth Seddon scored Ramsbottom's second after 65 minutes, and was almost immediately substituted, having completed the task his employers had in mind.

It was dark enough for the floodlights to spring noisily into action - I cannot remember whether Ramsbottom's lights have always been powered by a generator, or if their mains supply was damaged in the flood they suffered at the beginning of the year.

James Edgar under the lights

The most worrying aspect of recent performances is the trouble we have had scoring. In some games, there seems to have been a sense that when we have gone behind, it is as good as over, which goes some way to explaining our heavier defeats. It was therefore some encouragement that we improved in the last few minutes. James McCulloch was rewarded with a consolation goal, unfortunately with too little time for the chance of a second.

When we go out of a cup, I usually text my friend Roger, who first recruited me to the Cables interest in 1991, with the comment, "Concentrating on the league this year, Brian", because I like a good cliché, and Brian is actually his middle name. With the change of management, I felt the need to change the wording - "Brian's concentrating on the league this year".

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

Final score: Ramsbottom United 2 Prescot Cables 1 (McCulloch).