Away at home

Regular readers may notice that these pages do not stray much into professional football, so I was a little confused as to why Harry Kane received quite so many plaudits for the number of goals in a calendar year, when a season is what matters. We can still mark the achievement, albeit with dodgy punctuation.

Since November, Skelmersdale United have been sharing Prescot Cables' ground, having been ejected from Stormy Corner by the landlord. Our game away to them would therefore be in familiar surroundings, and convenient for transport as Skelmersdale does not enjoy bus services on New Year's Day. Not that I could say Prescot enjoyed them either, as I had a considerable wait for a connection.

Arriving at the ground, I went towards the gate for season tickets before swiftly remembering to join the queue to pay. As I was kitting out, programme editor Gareth Coates expressed surprise that I was wearing a good pair of boots to go on to the pitch. I explained that keeping them well polished means the rain runs off, which is why the Army are so keen on it. This would be amply tested during the afternoon. Once I was ready, I was about to breeze through the tunnel, then realised that I was not technically at my own ground and should wait until the teams had entered the field and the gate was opened again. We occupied the unfamiliar away dugout, and Dave Powell and his team were providing a blast from the past at home.

Our game at the weekend had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, and, whilst it had dried, rain was forecast. It duly arrived, and whilst I was getting my cover in place, Chris Almond opened the scoring against his former club. I was in time to catch the celebration.

Chris Almond celebrates his first goal

The regulars from the Fence End had taken shelter in the stand, and were snapping those of us out in the rain.

I caught the second of Chris Almond's goals.

We were seeing all the effects of the rain.

Jordan Wynne

It eased off for a while towards the end of the half.

Josh Klein-Davies

Two more goals from Chris Almond had me wandering round at half time puffing on an imaginary pipe murmuring that the last time anyone scored five in a game was probably Jack Roscoe in 1935 (he scored six in a 10-0 win against Harrowby in the FA Cup). Sadly, Chris was not to have the opportunity to equal this feat, as he took a knock to the Achilles tendon he ruptured at the beginning of the season, which put him out of action for three months, and so withdrew as a precaution.

Lloyd Dean assumed scoring duties ten minutes in to the second half.

Lloyd Dean

Given the light, I had taken my usual approach of positioning myself under a floodlight on the Gasworks Side. This was not one of my better decisions, as the wind was blowing from the west, so I was getting water on the front of the lens more quickly than I could wipe it off, giving a soft focus effect. I got a couple of exposures to illustrate the conditions.

Reece Fishwick

After getting this one, I retreated to shelter on the terraces on the stand side. From here, I was able to see Dan Burns score his first goal for the club.

Dan Burns celebrates his goal

After the game, I normally remove my high vis and waterproof trousers, but I thought it best to keep them on, as putting them in my bag risked drowning the camera. I was, however, delighted when I got home to find my highly polished boots had done the trick, and my feet were completely dry.

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

Final score: Skelmersdale United 1 Prescot Cables 6 (Almond 4, Dean, Burns)