It's Thursday, it must be the Cup - part 2

Prescot Cables' Liverpool Senior Cup Final against Marine was a difficult game to predict. Marine were a division above, but we were in a play off position. We had our eyes on the league, but Marine had to play at Altrincham the previous evening amid continuing bad weather and the FA's determination at all costs to complete the season by the end of the week. That fixture was a case in point, Altrincham were assured of the title and Marine mathematically safe, so it could have been mopped up the following week. Any thought Marine had of resting players probably had to go out of the window in favour of taking whoever could extricate themselves from work and family at less than 12 hours' notice.

Many county and league cup finals are played at a Football League ground, and for the players it may be the only chance they have to play there. The Liverpool FA's practice of drawing it at the home of one of the participants probably makes a virtue out of a necessity. Anfield and Goodison are unlikely to be available, and a crowd of 750 would rattle in Prenton Park or the Halton Stadium. In the Marine Travel Arena, however, it made for a lively atmosphere with two sets of enthusiastic supporters.

Having the match ball on a stand seems de rigeur these days. Another photographer, with commendable attention to detail, made sure the Nike swoosh was the right way up.

The referee giving the ball his total, undivided attention ...

... phew, no accidental comedy moment.

Pictures look better with a crowd in the background, and the compact nature of the ground means that with a decent number in they are fairly close together.

Valter Fernandes

Well, apart from one side.

Harry Cain

Those familiar with the ground may find it hard to believe, but there are pictures from the 1940s with spectators on the fourth side, so I dread to think what width the pitch must have been.

The first half an hour was a cagey affair, with neither side looking to take risks early on. We opened the scoring with a penalty, dispatched by Chris Almond.

Chris Almond scores from the spot

Many of our supporters stood on the open terrace at the Crosender Road end, in the unaccustomed position of being behind our goal.

Ben Barnes

James McCulloch was unavailable due a school trip to Llandudno, where I hope he was making the pupils pay for it attending to the students' fitness by having them run up and down an Orme. Lloyd Dean was captain in his place. He added a second just before half time ...

... and a third just after. The corner arrangement of floodlights meant I took up position behind the goal, with satisfactory results.

The definitive use of a shiny advertising board for reflecting a goal celebration

With seven of the hosts' team having played the previous day, they were tiring, and it was clear we would maintain our advantage. About ten minutes from time, I started to make my way to the College Road end, as I assumed that was where the cup would spend its brief time out of its case.

As I was behind the goal, I heard the steward briefing our supporters on the logistics - giving the players five minutes' rest after the final whistle, and then bringing the supporters on to the pitch to watch the presentation in the stand. I missed Josh Klein-Davies completing the scoring.

Josh Klein-Davies

Heading towards the cup ...

... I realised I was heading away from the imminent celebrations, so retraced my steps.

Scenes

The second rule of getting a good image is to reconnoitre the territory*, but I had little opportunity to do so, as I had not appreciated the value of Marine's stand for trophy presentations - not quite 39 steps, but enough to be going on with. The crowd had an excellent view, the photographer less so, with strip lighting immediately behind the players.

It was easier to get an image pitchside.

Unlike last year, when the County FA seemed keen to rescue their silverware from all those people with their collapsing fences, the trophy was allowed in the dressing room.

After a rather anxious looking chap popped his head round the door fifteen minutes later to ask if we had finished with their cup, the management took their turn in the more restrained atmosphere of the board room.

After this, the pictures needed to be processed - first up were a couple of the presentation, then the game. I had to disappoint the players, when pictures from the dressing room went in the queue behind those from the next game, although they had plenty of their own selfies to keep them going.

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

Final score: Marine 0 Prescot Cables 4 (Almond pen, Dean 2, Klein-Davies)

* The first rule is to remove the lens cap.

It's Thursday, it must be the Cup

Prescot Cables' game against Litherland Remyca in the Liverpool Senior Cup came sooner than expected. We anticipated playing away the following week, but the County FA insisted on bringing it forward, and, as Litherland Sports Park was not available, we were hosting. Both sides had our leagues to think about: we were guaranteed a playoff place, but wanted to aim for home advantage, and Remyca were looking at automatic promotion in the North West Counties. Not that either side took the evening anything less than seriously, a realistic chance of silverware is a realistic chance of silverware.

We started with a minute's applause for Andy Maund, in whose memory we dedicated the match. Andy lived next to the ground, was a regular supporter home and away, and sadly died suddenly the previous weekend at the age of 46.

We gave two of our Youth team players some first team experience. Matthew Kewn and Dominic Murphy both played against Bootle in the First Round. Getting everyone in the picture at an evening game can be a bit hit and miss, and I was happy with the number of pictures I got of Matthew.

Matthew Kewn

I was a bit less happy with how much I was able to see of Dominic, but it would turn out he would earn an individual picture later.

It was fine evening, with a relaxed crowd, and overcoats left at home.

An occupational hazard of being a goalkeeper is that we only need one, so if you are injured you can find your replacement does so well he commands the place. Such a fate befell Marcus Burgess in the autumn, with Ben Barnes taking a regular place and Marcus on loan at Padiham. With seven games in fifteen days, we need all hands on deck, so we welcomed Marcus back.

Marcus Burgess

We opened the scoring with a penalty after about half an hour. I got the impression we might not have discussed beforehand who would take them. Harry Cain yielded to Dan Burns, who converted with ease.

Dan Burns

In the second half, it seemed as though the game was flagging a bit. I was sitting in front of the main body of our supporters for the first few minutes, and it was a bit like a crowded beer garden, with the dominant sound being of conversation.

Harry Cain brought the crowd back to life with a goal at 70 minutes.

Harry Cain shoots for goal ...

... and celebrates

A second goal from Harry ten minutes later made the result secure.

Dominic Murphy rounded off the scoring just before full time to complete a performance that won the Man of the Match award, presented by Andy Maund's father, Billy. The first attempt at a picture was unsuccessful, when we spotted he was in his Youth team training top - nothing says you have arrived quite like retaking your presentation photo in a First team top.

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 4 (Burns pen, Cain 2, Murphy) Litherland Remyca 0.

Royal blues

For a small competition (less than 20 entries), the Liverpool Senior Cup often falls victim to scheduling problems. Our first round game at Bootle was twice delayed by the weather before we were able to complete it at home. For the next round, we were drawn against Everton, which should be easy to organise, as they have over 100 full time players, and we are not fussy which of them they send. They also have a full time administrative staff, which might have been the problem, as we had trouble finding the right department to deal with the fixture. Having cleared that hurdle, the first attempt fell foul of the weather, with a temperature of -5ºC when the game was due to be played (even the Premier League only requires Everton to be able to play their first team games in temperatures down to -3º).

Having established contact, we were quickly able to arrange a new date.

I arrived early, as I was expecting a decent crowd, although not the four figures predicted by some. We have had crowds in the 900s on pleasant evenings in August and April: 636 was respectable for a night that, whilst not as cold as previous weeks, was still not particularly clement.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the limits of technical skill in sports photography, the 1/10s that you cannot teach, and the difference between getting the goalkeeper's fingers to the ball and a foot away. Gareth's programme cover neatly addressed this.

I took up position by the side of the pitch. I was hardly there before Josh Klein-Davies opened the scoring.

Photographing for a team that plays in yellow, I usually wear an orange high vis to avoid any confusion, but on this occasion I clashed with the visiting goalkeeper.

I was not concerned when I was by the side of the pitch, but I took care behind the goal to take a position well to the side and make sure I changed sides when play was at the other end.

Lloyd Dean was next to score.

Josh Klein Davies added his second just before half time.

In Senior Cup fixtures against Everton, the quality and age of the team can make a big difference. An under 23 team with their eyes on silverware has to be firm favourites, whereas the under 18s getting match practice against an open age side makes for a more even contest, and I think they had sent the latter.

We proved to have seen most of the action in the first half, with a consolation goal for the visitors in the second, but with neither side really looking like they would add to the tally.

Everton's dieticians and sports scientists will doubtless advise that a pie at 10pm is not the way to peak fitness, so they left straight after the game, and we had quite a bit left over from the players' refreshments. Being off red meat for Lent, I eschewed a pie, but was fortified in processing the Man of the Match photo by Linda's excellent chicken curry.

Commercial manager Gary Finney presents the Man of the Match award to James McCulloch

We now progress to a semi final against Litherland Remyca, the other half of the draw having had better luck with the weather, the winners will play Marine in the final.

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 3 (Klein-Davies 2, Dean).

Millennial

In the Liverpool Senior Cup, if a tie is postponed twice, the club drawn away has the option to play the game at their ground, and for our first round tie against Bootle, we exercised it.

The week before the game saw our Chairman, Tony Zeverona, announce his resignation after twelve years in the post. Tony took the helm when we became supporter owned after our former owner withdrew his support in 2005, and has guided us through a fair few difficult moments since then. The job involves a lot of work most people do not see, often missing a fair bit of the football, and not many people want to do it for ever. This is probably a good time to look for a successor, with the results of many years' work bearing fruit in the league, better attendances than for many years, and some silverware. Tony's resignation also came just after he achieved national fame in the pages of When Saturday Comes magazine, illustrated by a rather decent photo, even if I say so myself.

I found dealing with WSC most straightforward, they asked to use the picture (and some well known publications do not), offered a fee and paid it with commendable efficiency.

Turning to the game, although I was standing next to Ben Barnes (I say "next to", it was more in his shadow) when he confirmed that he was not cup tied, I am not sure he had enough appearances to be eligible. Reserve team keeper Jack Morton therefore became our eighth first team keeper of the season.

Jack Morton

We have not had many evening games this season, so I have not had much opportunity to experiment with settings. At the moment I am using centre weighted metering, getting more consistent results than matrix metering. I have gone back to processing the raw files manually, lowering the black until it almost loses definition, which works well for the sky.

Josef Faux returns from injury

As there was no rain, I took the filter off the lens. However, the first divot flying in my direction reminded me water is not the only thing I would rather be cleaning off a filter, so I rapidly replaced it.

Jordan Southworth opened the scoring after ten minutes.

Joe Herbert congratulates Jordan Southworth

I swapped sides half way through - I had been reluctant to do this as it means sitting behind the assistant referee, but there is more than enough run off by the side of the pitch to mean I am not impeding his progress.

Valter Fernandes

The visitors were depleted by injuries, but put up a good performance, and would have been disappointed not to have levelled the scores before half time.

Five minutes into the second half, Jordan Wynne increased our lead.

Baba Conteh congratulates Jordan Wynne

Lloyd Dean was next to score ...

Lloyd Dean

... followed by a second from Jordan Wynne a few minutes later.

Fixtures like this are a good opportunity to introduce players coming through from the Youth team, and we saw debuts from Matthew Kewn and Dominic Murphy. Capturing players, particularly substitutes, at evening games has an element of luck, and I did not capture Matthew. However, in the 90th minute, Joe Herbert had a shot saved, for the rebound to fall to Dominic, who did not err in putting it away.

Dominic Murphy (15) shoots for goal

When I published the photos, I acquired a new follower on Twitter. The 00 on the end of Dominic's handle tells me this was our first goal scored by someone born in 2000. It is enough to make you feel old.

Despite the score, this was not a classic performance. The Man of the Match award went to Jordan Wynne, who, in an illustration of the quest for quality in the team, felt he had not had a good performance, despite his two goals.

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 5 (Southworth, Wynne 2, Dean, Murphy) Bootle 0

A moment with the silverware

After completing our league season, Prescot Cables had one more game: our second successive Liverpool Senior Cup Final, against Southport. Despite our being only a year younger than the competition, we had never won it.

A couple of games in this competition had come at just the right time this year: our morale boosting win at Ashton Town made the perfect start for Brian Richardson, and the semi final at Bootle enabled us to bounce back from the draw against Goole and prefaced a strong finish to the season.

Liverpool County FA fixtures can seem a bit low key, with little in the way of publicity. However, programme editor Gareth Coates used to manage competitions for the Middlesex FA, so he used his template from there to produce what may be the best programme in the competition for some years.

Last season's final attracted a crowd of 865 against Everton on a warm night in August. I was not expecting to beat this, but we had more time to prepare and had all hands on deck publicising it, so attracted 907. A substantial number gathered behind the goal at the Safari Park End, which would prove significant later.

Some of our team had been tantalisingly close to silverware, with Jordan Wynne and James Doyle in the Knowsley Under 19 side who were runners up in the Dallas Cup. Andy Scarisbrick had won some, coaching this evening's mascots, Belle Vale Under 8s, to success in their cup competition.

We were helped by the weather, which had turned out bright after a dull day.

Dominic Marie

With relegation confirmed, the visitors had no reason to save players for the league, so fielded a strong side, but it quickly became apparent we had the best of the motivation. As the light fell, I moved round, after half an hour reaching my preferred night time position on the Gasworks Side, from where I saw Joe Herbert score. The opportunities for individual glory are few for a central defender, so where better to take one?

Joe Herbert (5) celebrates his goal. That fence is not long for standing.

As Joe and Lloyd Dean went to celebrate with the crowd, the section of fence with the flags gave way, leaving about 20 people in a heap. It looked worse than it was - the structure is a rail and post, with the wood to stop the ball going out of play. No-one was seriously injured, although Lloyd Dean was hobbling a bit, and came off at half time. The stewards were quickly able to clear the area. The video went viral, and is assisting us in crowd funding to replace the fence and other sections of similar construction.

For the second half, I joined Jonah O'Reilly and his father watching on the half way line. Twenty minutes in, Andy Scarisbrick ensured he would be adding silverware won as a player to his season's collection with our second goal.

Andy Scarisbrick

The rest of the game had us glued to our watches ...

Marcus Burgess

... but in reality the visitors offered little threat. Last season, the presentation to Everton was done before I even had time to walk round to the stand, so with five minutes to go, I murmured to the O'Reillys that, whilst I did not want to tempt fate, it  might be time for me to wander round. I donned some high vis, and former club secretary Doug Lace, now with the County FA, was on hand to make my presence on the pitch side of the barrier official.

We had to wait for the cup, as the County FA Chairman, Mr Wild, I suspect to comply with the insurance conditions for the trophy, was not willing to make the presentation with spectators on the pitch. This was my moment to try to get everyone in, starting with the medal presentations.

Valter Fernandes receives his medal, Dominic Reid, Josh Dolling and James Edgar look on

I rushed out a couple of pictures of the team with the cup for publicity: this one seems to have become the official picture, appearing all over the web, and on posters, mugs etc.

Readers may think the cup will look resplendent in our trophy cabinet, but a few minutes later it was on its way back to the safe at the County FA. As well as extremely valuable material and workmanship, it is priceless sporting history, won by Everton before the foundation of the Football League, the first trophy won by Liverpool in 1893, and containing the names of everybody who is anybody in local football (well it will after the base comes back from the engravers), so the cost of secure storage and insurance would be prohibitive.

We actually keep the one on the left

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Herbert, Scarisbrick) Southport 0.

The correct equipment

For Prescot Cables' Liverpool Senior Cup semi-final at Bootle, the County FA kitted out the officials with the full range of equipment from the professional game, including coloured shirts, radio communications ...

... and spray foam for marking a line at free kicks, although there was a lack of training on when to let go of the button.

We should not be surprised that the spray seemed to run out in the second half. There was even a fourth official.

James Edgar notices the fourth official appears to be from Mars

I approached the game thinking the hosts would probably have a slight edge - when 20th in one division plays 3rd in the division below, the latter has momentum in their favour. I also approached the game carefully watching my step: I amused everyone with the effects of landing face first on the pavement on the way to the corresponding fixture at Litherland REMYCA last season, and was not looking to repeat the experience.

I do not do much evening work under North West Counties floodlights, and I decided after a short while to experiment, using the sports mode on the camera. I set the ISO between 12800 and 24600 as the location of the action permitted, and let the shutter speed take care of itself, rather than using shutter priority mode. Adjusting ISO is a bit more complicated than shutter speed, needing three button presses rather than turning a wheel, but I got to grips quickly enough. I have read that Nikon cameras apply some noise reduction even in raw, and that astronomers do not like them for that reason (it is possible to noise reduce out anything from a star or two to an entire galaxy), and there seemed to be some difference in grain between the modes.

We got the scoring under way with a goal from Josh Dolling ...

Josh Dolling

... quickly followed up by Dominic Reid.

Dominic Reid

Our physio, Tony Carroll, had to speak to some of our supporters after the first goal, asking them to desist from letting off smoke grenades, so hopefully we will avoid a fine. There also seemed to be steam drifting intermittently across the pitch - I was not able to work out whether this was from the industrial premises next door, or if someone was using a particularly vaporous electronic cigarette.

Michael Ordish pulled a goal back for the hosts, and a fine save from England Universities squad member Marcus Burgess ensured that we remained ahead at half time.

Marcus Burgess

We dominated the second half, with goals in quick succession from Dale Wright ...

Dale Wright celebrates his goal

... Lloyd Dean ...

Celebrating Lloyd Dean's goal

... and Josef Faux ...

Josef Faux

... completed a convincing and confidence boosting win, and secured a place in the final against Southport.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen on Google Photos here. I attempted to post them on the club website, and thought I had been successful at the second or third attempt, but Pitchero seems to have eaten them, and the moment has somewhat passed to try again.

Final score: Bootle 1 Prescot Cables 5 (Dolling, Reid, Wright, Dean, Faux).