Battle of industry

Prescot Cables derives its name from our town's departed industrial heritage, so I enjoy visiting clubs with a similar background. Atherton Collieries can claim more historical points: our name came from sponsorship in the 1920s, theirs is from the club's being founded by miners in the First World War.

For evening games, small variations in transport timetables make a big difference. Last season I was thinking of attending a game as a neutral: the risk of missing the 9.46 train to Wigan meant I decided not to go. This time, the train was at 10pm, and Mr Google's maps showed me that what I thought was the quickest route to the station was nothing of the sort, so I shaved three or four minutes off the walk.

We were due to play this game on the Saturday after Easter, but it fell to a lunchtime downpour when we were on the way. I spent that afternoon in Wigan Central, a railway themed real ale and cider bar in the arches beneath North Western station, and, confusingly to those with an eye to railway history, nowhere near the old Wigan Central station. It was as well the game was off: although I was compos mentis enough to identify alternative entertainment at Wigan St Patrick's rugby league, when the time came I was disinclined to move to actually attend.

The ground has a distinct slope, which features in my memory of our North West Counties winning season of 2002-3. In the last game of the season, in which we needed a point, the hosts had a penalty in the first half, and sent it at an angle that would have gone in on level ground, but went over: we had a penalty in the second half and did not make the same mistake.

We were playing downhill in the first half.

Reece McNally

I often mention wearing high vis working pitchside. This is at least encouraged, if not mandated by the league, so players and officials can see clearly you are not part of the game. I was glad of it after a few minutes, when Atherton goalkeeper Greg Hartley was sliding towards me, downhill, on slippery ground, feet first. I do not know if he would have seen me without high vis, but he did with it, and was able to aim his feet at the pitch perimeter.

Greg Hartley

The hosts opened the scoring after 15 minutes, with a penalty converted by Ben Hardcastle, who has been a dominant feature of Collieries' recent successful seasons.

My position was giving good lighting throughout the half.

Josh Klein-Davies

For the second half, I took up position behind the uphill goal, which may not have been ideal, but as the bulk of the crowd was along the side, it meant I could get a position with no-one (more to the point, no-one with spillable drinks) immediately behind me. The sky was coming out as a nice shade of deep blue.

James Edgar and Harry Cain line up a free kick

About 15 minutes in, a tackle saw an Atherton player on the ground, an appeal for a free kick, more in hope than expectation, ignored by the referee, and everyone played on. This hardly merits a mention, except a spectator helped things along with a shout of "Get up you faggot". You do not hear this at our level as often as the full time game: people are more civilised when they know they will see the players in the bar later. I could only place it within 20 yards, and I was probably in the best place in the ground to hear it. There was a mix of supporters in the vicinity, but as the hosts would have had the advantage of a free kick, it was hardly going to be one of them. In the absence of anyone identifiable to report, I shall make my observation here. If you call an opposition player or match official a queer, faggot or similar term, it is because (a) you know they are like me, (b) you think they are like me, or (c) you think they believe it to be somehow undesirable to be like me. It is shouting abuse at me as much as at them: the second I hear it, I am on their side, not yours.

Once again, we came closer to scoring as the game went on. Our team are noticeably fit for the full 90 minutes, which, when we face a team flagging in the last ten, gets goals and points. Unfortunately the hosts appear to work on the same principle. A good save from Ben Barnes a couple of minutes from time stopped Atherton extending their lead, and Harry Cain hit the post with a minute or two to go, but we could not stop the hosts adding to their excellent record in the second half of the season.

Ben Barnes

I had hoped to give Gibbo from the Collieries committee a quick call on my way out: I saw him at a distance whilst I was on the pitch, but he had moved by the time I had packed up and was ready to go, and I had not appreciated how much time the quickest route to the station saves, so I thought I would not have time to go and find him.

On the way home, I had a wait at Wigan North Western that was too long to be convenient, but not quite long enough for a pint downstairs. Then again, you can find quite a bit to divert you on Realtime Trains and the live signalling maps on Open Train Times: I know a lot more about Anglo-Scottish freight flows than I did before.

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

Final score: Atherton Collieries 1 Prescot Cables 0.