Crossing the barrier

There is always something special about the first day of the season, people emerging from where they have been over the summer, and, without needing to be guided, taking familiar places on the terraces and in the stands and the bar. Some have returned from our summer sports or walks in the countryside, some have made the journey specially, whilst others have been at the club already, with tales to tell of the pre season programme, or looking forward to people seeing the results of a summer's work on the ground.

With the start seeming to be earlier every year, some are still away. With our manager and captain both being teachers, it is impossible for holidays not to intervene, and we would be without James McCulloch for the first two games. A recently returned Brian Richardson greeted me with the news that my reputation for an inability to capture goals (worse than usual in pre season) was spreading, with the players starting a sweep on whether I would get one. We will come back to that later.

We were sporting a new kit, the same Puma design as the last couple of seasons, but in the yellow with which we are more familiar.

Chris Almond

I too had been issued with new kit: Garry Williams, our goalkeeping coach, supplied me with a high vis bib for use pitchside. I did not try it in pre season, but as I was on the pitch taking the initial line up for our opening game against Ossett Town, I decided to give it a go. I made a makeshift seat near the Safari Park End. getting the low position that is particularly good for still sports photography.

Lloyd Dean

My initial location is also where the substitutes often warm up (it seems to depend whether the assistant referee wants to keep an eye on them, in this case he did not). To avoid photographing round them, I moved to the other side of the corner flag, leaning against the famous fence. It held my weight, although that was not the direction in which it collapsed in the first place.

Louis Coyne

I also got a decent view of the crowd.

The Dugout Irregulars

For the second half, we were attacking towards the Hope Street end, sponsored by North West Roadshow.

Jordan Wynne

There are some concrete protrusions from the base of the terrace at this end, providing a handy seat for a good view.

Baba Conteh

We had not performed well in the first half, giving away a penalty and conceding a second goal. We were much better in the second half, but we could not convert this to goals until Jordan Southworth scored in injury time.

Jordan Southworth shoots for goal

I am not sure how this works in the players' sweepstake, but it is definitely the shot for goal. The team showed impressive discipline, not wasting time with celebrations but getting straight back for the kick off to try for an equaliser. Unfortunately time was too short, but this was a good performance against last year's play off runners up, who may be looking forward to another good year.

Valter Fernandes was the season's first Man of the Match, being presented with the award by Alan McNally of Joseph's Joinery, who supplied the new woodwork around the ground and helped the volunteers to fit it.

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

Whilst my new photography position is good for pictures, it is not necessarily sociable - my friend Dr Luke was visiting us, something that, due to spending most of the game below the perimeter fence, I only found out as we exchanged a cheery handshake as he left at the end.

Final score: Prescot Cables 1 (Southworth) Ossett Town 2.

Across the fields

Having seen a good performance against Marine, Prescot Cables went into the next weekend of our pre season programme a couple of men down. Danny Flood, who suffered a number of injuries last season, found his luck had not changed, fracturing his foot in midweek. Then, in an illustration of the hazards of inviting a club from a higher division to play, Marine liked James Edgar so much they took him with them. Whilst my mental arithmetic is not all it could be, I cannot quite make the days between Tuesday and Friday add up to seven. However, James has been both reliable and useful in a number of positions, including a couple of occasions as an emergency goalkeeper, over the two seasons he has been with us, and has definitely earned the opportunity to play in a higher division. This blog wishes him well for the future.

James Edgar

For the weekend, there was more immediate business, at Ashton Athletic, a club the same age as me, having been founded in 1968, and located on the edge of Ashton-in-Makerfield. There is a Cumfybus (yes, that is a real bus company) from St Helens that runs near the ground, but in an almost Yorkshire-like desire to get full value from what I had paid for, I used my Arriva season ticket to the town centre for free, and walked from there. Mr Google suggested the quickest route, including a public footpath past a farm, reminding me that metropolitan districts are not all built up. Blocked footpaths are a hazard for walkers, and, having gone some distance, head high overgrowth made it impassable, so I had to retrace my steps and go round the road way, along the delightfully named Spindle Hillock, arriving uphill in more of a hurry than I had planned.

Fortunately there is a small stand alongside the country end that we were attacking, so I settled in for a bit whilst I cooled down.

Harry Cain & Jordan Wynne

These games can be an opportunity to see old friends, and this game was no exception, with the hosts including former Cables players Bram Johnstone, Ben Cartwright, Jacob Jones and Josh Nicholson. In goal was Martin Pearson, who has never played for us, but we seem to meet him at least once a season.

Jacob Jones

Bryn, to the north of the town, about ten minutes' walk away, is only a few stops from Prescot on the electric train (at weekends the folks in London even let us plug it in), so we brought some visible support.

Martin Pearson

We continued with the approach of the last couple of games, having two more or less separate teams for the two halves.

The first half team watch the second half

Another fans' favourite made his first appearance of the pre season programme, having been unavailable for the first two games.

Josef Faux, pursued by Josh Nicholson

The hosts were at the end of their preparations, with, like all clubs at step 5, their first competitive fixture being in the FA Cup the following week. There were times when the extra preparation was showing, but a single goal from Lloyd Dean put us ahead.

Lloyd Dean

After the game, not only would the Cumfybus have cost me money, but the time was not particularly convenient, requiring me either to leave five minutes before time or hang around for the best part of an hour, so I headed back to the town centre, with the advantage this time that it was all downhill.

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

Final score: Ashton Athletic 0 Prescot Cables 1 (Dean)

Differently shaped balls

I am not sure whether I should describe my last weekend's sport as a double header or changing horses in mid stream. The former expression suggests going to one game, watching it to the end, then going to the other, whereas I was flipping between the two. Competitive rugby league at Thatto Heath Crusaders coincided with the beginning of Prescot Cables' pre-season programme. As the latter was a four team tournament, I attended the beginning, slipped out in the middle, and returned for the presentation of the cup, named after Dennis Bellairs, who died in December after nearly 50 years' service to the club.

I arrived to find the first game in full swing, between Rainhill Town and City of Liverpool. Whilst I was neutral for this, I concentrated more on Rainhill, as I they probably have less opportunities to get their players into pictures.

We have seen before that purple does not always reproduce well in digital photographs. I have seen the problem with some fabrics and some flowers, so I assume texture is a contributory factor. St Helens Law's advertisement is very a similar colour to City of Liverpool's kit, here worn by former Cables player Francis Foy, but the advertisement (and the sock tape) reproduces accurately, whereas the kit comes out much more blue.

This game produced the shock of the tournament, if anything in a pre-season tournament is a shock, when Rainhill beat City of Liverpool 1-0 to secure a place in the final.

The other semi-final was between Prescot and St Helens Town. It has been one of our most stable pre seasons for many years, and most of last season's squad were back, with some new faces, and a return for one of our own.

Connor Grainger

Goalkeepers never miss a chance to discuss strange goalkeeping things.

I saw the first half and a few minutes of the second, before I used the good offices of the 10A (all human life is there) to go to Thatto Heath. The hosts were ahead when I arrived five minutes into the game. Although many pictures I post are of tackles, it also makes for a good picture when a player sidesteps one and gains valuable distance - even better when the result is the opposition players managing to tackle each other.

The hosts dominated the first half, and had the game sewn up by half time, but, with the visitors playing mainly for pride, the second half was more of a contest.

That probably completed my work with Thatto Heath for the season, as I was mainly snapping for them during the football close season. Having got enough frames, and with the result secure, I left a few minutes early to get the 10A, giving a cheery wave to this chap on the way out.

Back at Prescot, Cables had hit a scoring streak in their semi final, going from 2-0 when I left to win 6-1.

I arrived at half time in the tournament final. Although there were rolling substitutions, Cables were playing separate teams in each half, apart from having Marcus Burgess in goal throughout. Having seen a full half with one team, I was able to see a full half with the other, so I could get most of the players in. Rainhill put in another good performance, but could not translate it into goals.

Andy Scarisbrick

Two goals secured the trophy for the hosts.

Harry Molyneux presents the cup

The end result of the afternoon was that Prescot scored eight goals, of which I was not there for four, and did not capture anything usable from the others, whilst Thatto Heath amassed fifty points, and I did not get a decent shot of any of them being scored. Dennis would have been most amused.

The rest of the pictures from the football can be seen here, and from the rugby here.