Sunshine after rain

A couple of weeks' steady rain meant Prescot Cables' game at home to Ramsbottom United was our first competitive fixture since Scarborough at the end of January. Skemersdale United have not been able to play on the pitch either, and it looked as though it had benefited from three weeks' rest and from the grass starting to grow again.

As well as the pitch having had chance to dry, I anticipated being dry too, as no rain was forecast. There was even sun, which at this time of the year means it is tricky to sit behind the goal line at the Safari Park End. The light is mainly from the side for pictures, but the sun is low enough to dazzle, and bright enough that I cannot see the camera screen. I therefore sat in the shade of the side perimeter. An issue I did not have a couple of years ago is boards on the Gasworks Side giving a strong backlight - a product of our success selling advertising. The D5300's sports mode automatically uses matrix metering,  so I experimented with shutter priority and spot and weighted metering. The latter had some advantages, although I am not sure it outweighed the disadvantage of having to manually adjust shutter speed as play went into the shade.

Reece Fishwick

We quickly imposed ourselves when Reece Fishwick was brought down for a penalty converted by Chris Almond.

One of  the more ominous sights in a game is a player going down with no-one near him, and this proved to be the case when Josef Faux landed awkwardly after jumping for the ball, injuring his knee. Sadly, early reports suggest he may be out for some time.

Josef Faux

The resulting substitution meant James Edgar returned from injury somewhat earlier than he expected.

James Edgar

A lot of sports photography involves techniques you can learn - looking at published photographs to see what works, mastering camera settings, cropping and lighting. However, there is something, that we can call 1/10s (probably less than that) that separates professionals from those of us in the amateur field. It is the difference in reaction time between getting the fingers making contact with the ball and getting it a foot away flying off to safety.

Ben Barnes

It is also the difference between getting the ball on the head of the player and ... well you see the pattern.

Chris Almond heads for his second goal ...

... joins Ernie in watching it go in ...

... and celebrates.

To access the pitch for the second half, I used the smart new gate installed by our sponsors Joseph's Joinery - the only snag being that with a bolt at the bottom as well as the top, I need someone to close it behind me. The cover at the Eaton Street end gave me some shadow to work in. Ben Barnes was sensibly wearing a cap, but I do not recall ever having seen a linesman wearing one, even though in this case he was looking straight into the sun for most of the 45 minutes.

The linesman watches Reece McNally

We had taken the opportunity presented by the weather to play friendlies against Southport and Chorley, and made a new signing, Junior Dos Santos, who has played with West Ham's youth setup and recently relocated to the north. Some tweets telling us he was enjoying training and looking forward to playing for the club went a long way to ensuring an enthusiastic welcome when he came on.

Junior Dos Santos

The visitors' goal came when Ben Barnes made one of those howlers that keep goalkeepers awake at night - an innocuous free kick came in his direction, he had the options of gathering it in his hands, stopping it with his feet or falling on it. A moment's hesitation meant he did none, and the ball trickled into the net. It is the goalkeeper's lot that talk after the game was of whether I had a picture of the miss rather than one of the acrobatic save I have published above.

For the last quarter of an hour, the shadow of the stand was long enough to let me take position by the side of the pitch.

Matthew Hamilton

We were joined for the afternoon by some friends from Larvik, Norway, the home town of the father and son Norwegian internationals Gunnar and Hallvar Thoresen. The Thoresens made their names with Larvik Turn, whereas our visitors support the town's older football team but younger sports club, IF Fram. They have sponsored some shirt numbers in the name of the town for a couple of seasons, and were making their first visit to Prescot.

Bjørn Nilsson from Larvik presents Baba Conteh with his Man of the Match award

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

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

Dave West RIP

In 1991, when I first started watching non League Football, the internet was a distant dream. For information we relied on Team Talk magazine and the Non League Directory, the latter still going strong. Digital photography was for space exploration - on land we used film and it cost money for every shot, so you needed to be good to get a return for your money. I once tried photographing a match on film: it cost me £7 or £8 at 1993 prices, the shots still needed cropping, and I did not have anywhere to show them.

For players and clubs, a highlight would be a photograph in Team Talk. They had a team of photographers, amongst whom was Dave West, who died on Monday. Dave was a supporter of Croydon FC, although I wonder how he found time to watch them as he was a familiar figure on the southern non-league circuit. Even as an irregular supporter at Dulwich Hamlet I would bump into him two or three times a season, a cheerful gentleman who seemed to know everybody. As well as football, he also covered rugby league and ice hockey.

When digital cameras of sufficient quality for sports work became affordable, the pictures from the likes of Dave were a standard against which we could measure our work. Even in the era of club websites, and people like me trying to get every player in a collection, the print media, and the work of those who give much of their time to recording the wider game remain popular.

I had not seen Dave for a while, these days "it is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk", but I know he will be missed by those in football, rugby league and ice hockey around London, and there will continue to be those of us looking to follow his example in standards of both work and conduct.

Pretty Flamingo

At the end of last week, the gay bit of my Twitter feed took an unexpected interest in Scarborough, as it was announced the American chanteuse Britney Spears is playing the Open Air Theatre in the summer. Being as unfamiliar with Ms Spears' work as I am with the Premier League, I concentrated on Prescot Cables' visit to Scarborough Athletic's Flamingo Land Stadium, which, sadly, is only named after the local attraction rather than hosting their flamingoes.

The ground's new postcode is not recognised by Mr Google's maps (it takes months to work through all systems), but they have a not strictly accurate marker for the entrance off Seamer Road. This is convenient from the south and west, but, as I found later, from the town it is three sides of a square. Near the ground, Lloyd Dean's father, Barry, pulled alongside to ask if I knew where the entrance was (I did not), and offer a lift for the last few hundred yards. I hopped in, and we flagged down a home supporter, who suggested we park in the side streets, about the same distance from our destination as when I got in the car.

The attendance was 1377, about the upper limit of comfort as the ground stands. It is some way short of the official 2070 capacity, the calculations must assume tall people will let short people stand in front of them, and they could make it better known there are no seats for non season ticket holders. I noticed some metal terraces to be installed along the side, which will increase capacity and comfort.

Jordan Wynne in front of the crowd at the covered end

Reece McNally with a full house at the side

Those on the coach reported bag searches and confiscated drinks, but I breezed in with full luggage and a bottle of water. I then committed a cardinal error, trying new kit without having fully tested it. I received a camera hand grip as a present, and planned to try it. I need both hands changing lenses standing up, with the body hanging free on the strap, and had not considered how to do it with one hand full. Then the clip that worked well, if stiffly, at home, proved more resistant to hands cold from a walk along the front and keeping my lunchtime haddock out of the sight of inquisitive seagulls. By the time I changed to the neck strap, the tunnel was in position, so I stood behind the pitch perimeter.

We won the toss and elected to play towards the covered end, which met with boos from the locals. The clear seaside light gave me some crisp pictures. Joey Faux returned to action - and had his name announced correctly rather than ending up as Fox, as elsewhere in Yorkshire.

Joey Faux

Reece Fishwick, however, acquired a silent "w".

Reece Fishwick

It looked as though we were short of players fit, eligible and able to travel, as we only named three substitutes.

Ben Barnes was kept busy.

Ben Barnes

I swapped sides half way through the first half.

Chris Almond

The hosts proved more effective than when visiting us a few weeks ago, and went in at half time two goals up.

I wondered where to stand for the second half, but there was space when some home supporters changed ends. A substantial number stayed put, and were not pleased with those of ours who wanted to stand behind the goal we were attacking. I did not see much of the disagreement - mainly backs of heads - but the Police, who were outside as I came in, were called and ejected one or two individuals, and seemed concerned at people using the toilet more than once. The officers looked quite young: wait 'til you get to my age constable... There was talk afterwards of the need for an away end, but I have been in bigger crowds without, so I think it depends more on the home club dealing with the small number of idiots that inevitably appear in a large crowd.

I was happy with the floodlights, which gave good results, at least in the half we were attacking.

Matthew Hamilton

A third goal in the last five minutes secured the points for Scarborough and did their goal difference no harm.

I was still unacquainted with the quicker route to town, so returned the way I came. I hoped to take refreshment in the Stumble Inn, but it had the problem of a micropub, a couple of dozen people left nowhere to perch, so I stumbled back out and adjourned to the more spacious Angel.

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

Final score: Scarborough Athletic 3 Prescot Cables 0