Fog lights

Prescot Cables entered their game against Ramsbottom United needing all the points we could get. The previous week's results left us in a relegation position, behind Goole on goal difference. The league is so tight that one more goal would have put us ahead on goals scored, and a not unrealistic 5-1 would have taken it to results in games between the clubs. Ramsbottom started the day three points ahead with poor away form, but we have usually struggled to obtain a result against them.

The day started clearly enough, with sunny spells.

Joe Herbert

However, as the temperature dropped, the fog started to form.

Valter Fernandes

It was patchy in places, and very much rising from the ground, with the air above about twenty feet looking clear.

The visitors had scored first, after seven minutes, with Rob Doran levelling the scores after half an hour.

Rob Doran

By half time, we were completely fog bound.

Jordan Wynne

Were I a betting man, and allowed by the FA to be so, I would have been tempted to open a book on whether we would be able to finish, or if I would encounter my second weather related abandonment of the year, having escaped such an outcome for the previous twenty five.

My photographic activities for the afternoon were more or less at an end, with the action only clear right in front of me. I could see our substitutes warming up on the opposite touchline, but would have been hard pressed to identify them with any certainty. Ramsbottom scored again, then Jordan Wynne was brought down for a penalty, converted by Rob Doran, three minutes later. The point slipped out of our grasp in the last 20 minutes, with the visitors scoring twice without reply. Those who saw it through the mist suggested the third goal was quite a good free kick.

With Goole losing 3-1, we remain level below them on goal difference, but with two more goals scored. Burscough are a distance away at the bottom of the table, but looked as though Dave Powell's meticulous approach to looking out for players was starting to pay off with results. Of particular concern was that he had secured Marcus Burgess in goal. However, for reasons best known to themselves, the club decided to part company with Dave, with the result that both he and Marcus were watching us, with the latter being available for us once the formalities have been completed.

With a change in management, it is inevitable some players will move on. Phil Bannister, who has been an excellent servant of the club in over 100 appearances in two spells with us, has been snapped up by Burscough.

Phil Bannister

Josh Nicholson, who has been a useful member of the squad in the last year, clearly impressed Ashton Town in our Senior Cup game, as he has joined them, as well as registering back at Skelmersdale United in our league.

Josh Nicholson in action against Ashton Town

This blog extends its best wishes to both Phil and Josh in their future endeavours. There are more arrivals and departures, but I will save those for the next game.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Doran 1 + 1 pen) Ramsbottom United 4