Greyscale

When I was about ten I attended a children's exhibition at Alexandra Palace in London. At one stall you could make your own abstract painting, squeezing some paint on to paper that was spun on a turntable and came out with abstract patterns. I have never had strong fingers, and was concerned I had not applied much paint, but it came out well, with distinct blocks of colour, whereas other children, who had used much more paint, ended up with it all merging into a monochrome blob.

I wondered whether the designer of Kendal Town's kit for their visit to Prescot Cables used a similar process, putting the black and white of their home kit on the turntable and ending up with mid grey. They had a thought for those wearing replica shirts walking or cycling on rural roads by including fluorescent numbers and advertising, ensuring they were visible at night.

Sam Staunton-Turner

I had missed a couple of games, Easter commitments meaning I was unable to travel to South Shields, and the weather enforced change of date at Colwyn Bay clashing with other arrangements. I wondered whether we might need to squeeze this fixture into a rapidly closing window, as it had rained heavily in the morning. A declared crowd of 146 suggested many people came to the same conclusion and stayed indoors to watch Liverpool in European action, and the number who looked to be present suggested that included a few season ticket holders. However, whilst the area around the tunnel was predictably soft, the Gasworks Side was surprisingly firm. The linesmen were on the opposite sides to the usual arrangement: I thought his might be because of the weather, but I think the referee, Mr Buxton, may just prefer that arrangement.

We had matching goalkeepers, which strictly speaking you are not supposed to, but I have never seen both get close enough, even when one goes up for a last minute corner, to make it an issue.

Ben Barnes

Matthew Johnson

Given that, whilst were still in some sort of daylight, the colour of the sky matched the visitors' kit without the bright bits, I knew the light would play havoc with my exposures. There is not much you cannot fix, but it means processing all the images, including the raw conversion, manually.

Reece McNally

This was my first opportunity to see recent signing Morgan Homson-Smith in action.

Morgan Homson-Smith

I occasionally practice rolling into a ball if it looks as though I am about to be between a player and the pitch perimeter, mainly to protect the camera, but also to make sure the player does not collide at full speed with a protruding piece of hard plastic. I thought for a moment I might need to put it into action.

Harry Cain

MJ Monaghan added to the tally of goals he has scored since joining us a few weeks ago.

MJ Monaghan avoids the defender ...

... and the goalkeeper ...

... and celebrates his goal.

The light in the second half was easier to work with, being standard floodlights, and the underlying grey of Kendal's kit was more reflective than I was expecting.

James Edgar

Chris Almond made the result sure with a couple of minutes to go.

Chris Almond

Club Secretary Dan Roberts was celebrating his birthday, so was called upon to present the Man of the Match award to Joe Herbert.

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 (Monaghan, Almond) Kendal Town 0

Eyes open

August Bank Holiday Monday this year saw Prescot Cables at home to Skelmersdale United, who may be joining us on a more regular basis later in the year if they are unable to remain in their ground on the site of the former hamlet of Stormy Corner.

Before the game, there was the annual task with the most opportunities for things to go wrong - the team photos. For the individual pictures, commercial manager Steve Garnett suggested a backdrop of some of the supporters' banners. I was sceptical, but it worked out well, if a little orange, with a tequila motif (nothing to do with me, I cannot understand how anyone drinks the stuff).

Joey Faux

The light stayed fairly even with light cloud, for the players, but the sun came out for the management. Next up was the team photo itself, an exercise that needs a firm hand, as the team are certainly not going to listen to me.

Fortunately, the sun went back in, as the position, with the stand and banner in the background, meant everyone's faces would be in shadow if it had stayed out. With everyone in place, I was not loud enough with the "say testicles" (from The Commitments), so there was no take when everyone had their eyes open, which caused much mirth on Twitter.

Once it was done we could all relax, and someone could put the banner on the front of the stand back in position. Anyone tempted to caption a team photograph should put the names in a separate text file, as, when you make the inevitable errors, it is easier to amend the file and paste the contents into a new text box than to edit on the photo.

We only had one mascot for the game, which was just as well, as the assistant referee was looking to start the handshakes while most of the team were still walking in front of me.

We started playing towards the Hope Street end and I took up a position on the ground in front of the covered standing.

Baba Conteh

The first half ended goalless, but we swiftly opened the scoring in the second half with a penalty converted by Tunde Owolabi.

Tunde Owolabi scores from the spot

The visitors then opened their account from a penalty. Jordan Wynne restored our advantage a few minutes later.

Jordan Wynne shoots for goal

The penalty count started to look like rugby union when Tunde Owolabi was brought down in the box for our next opportunity. Unfortunately, Skelmersdale's Jack Sims correctly guessed where Tunde would put his second penalty, and was able to save.

Jack Sims

We looked as though we would hold on to our lead until the last seconds of injury time when the visitors snatched an equaliser.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen on the club website here, and on Google Photos here. A copy of the team photo is available here.

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Owolabi pen, Wynne) Skelmersdale United 2.

Bridge the gap

Arriving for Prescot Cables' game at Tadcaster Albion, I quickly spotted the town's main claim to fame for the last couple of years. It spans the River Wharfe, one side in the West Riding proper, and the other in the Ainsty of York. The latter's agricultural revenue once supported the city but by the end of its existence as an administrative entity, it was a wild and lawless place. It is a lot quieter these days, as we were to find. The bridge, being the only practical route between the two halves, showed smooth new stone from repairs after it was partially demolished by a flood in 2015.

Give it 20 years of weathering and you will not be able to see the join. Looking up the story of the collapse, I see our hosts allowed their car park to be used for access to the temporary footbridge in place during the repairs.

A number of our train crew made a weekend of it in York, and, as is his wont, Dr Phil brought along some more Doctors (at least I think they all are). Our pharmacological expertise (nothing performance enhancing, most of them work on livers) was augmented by Benny, who has been to a few games, and Cables newcomers Tammy, Victoria and Amy. I was just there for the day, so it was a lot cheaper to travel via Leeds. Having grown up in the countryside, striding across fields with nothing in the way, but near enough to London to experience fast moving crowds, I often think that if places like Leeds had the number of people found in London, they would literally come to a standstill, with people gathered round train doors and no-one able to get on or off, and the streets blocked by people ambling along three abreast at a glacial pace. Dodging these obstacles, I made it to Leeds Bus Station for the Coastliner bus, which was not going as far as the coast, but that is Yorkshire economy for you, in the same way they lack trebles on their dartboards.

A Yorkshire dartboard, spotted by Dr James

I pottered around taking a few pictures before a pre match pint in the Howden Arms opposite the ground. I have had Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Bitter in London and not been keen, but either my tastes have changed or it really does taste better in Tadcaster.

Marcus Burgess

It looked as though every inch of the pitch perimeter was taken with advertising, although on closer inspection many of the boards belonged to the club - not necessarily a bad thing, as, when you see the photos, you know where you are.

Josh Dolling. Ee ba gum.

The weather was good for action photography, with about seven oktas of light cloud. In a week when I pulled the leg of my friend Matt from the Lost Boyos for dodgy geography where the lack of knowledge turned out to be mine, I can still remember the unit of measurement for cloud cover. It was a decent level of light for fast shutter speeds, and the cloud means an absence of distracting shadows.

Josef Faux - 1/1000s f/5.6 ISO500 300mm

We opened the scoring inside the first few minutes with a goal from Chris Almond.

Chris Almond shoots for goal ...

... and watches it go in.

It was an evenly balanced half, with the hosts equalising, Chris Almond scoring again, and the hosts once again drawing level.

Visiting the tea bar at half time, I got the end of a batch of chips - all the better, as there were plenty of the crispy bits near the bottom of the pan. The weather was more changeable in the second half, with some sun and a couple of light showers.

Andy Scarisbrick

A further goal eluded both sides, not for want of trying. With Goole losing, we restored another point of the cushion between us and them.

After the game, most of our party stayed for a couple of drinks, in the Angel and White Horse, where Samuel Smith keep their white dray horses, and the Coach and Horses next to the bus station. We were probably a bit noisy for the town, where most pubs seemed geared towards dining, and they may well have been relieved when we took ourselves back to the city.

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

Final score: Tadcaster Albion 2 Prescot Cables 2 (Almond 2)

Thwarted at the last

We had mixed feelings ahead of Prescot Cables' game at home to Ossett Albion in the Preliminary Round of the Buildbase FA Trophy. We have endured a poor run of form in the league, but anything can happen in a cup, and there were encouraging noises from a friendly game at Skelmersdale United in midweek. We also had a new signing, also from Skelmersdale: Dale Wright, a popular player six or seven years ago before moving onwards and upwards, who has played most recently for Stalybridge Celtic in the National League North.

Dale Wright

We started with a minute's applause for Les Birchall, a long standing supporter who had died suddenly: we were joined by his widow and his son Gareth, a committee member at Padiham FC.

It has been a mild autumn so far, with this being the first afternoon game of the season to which I have worn a coat, but I would not have been uncomfortable without it. The light follows a more predictable course. There was intermittent cloud, but even when the sun was out, it was weaker even than last week. This is the light in which the sports mode on the D5300 comes into its own, increasing ISO once the shutter speed gets to 1/1000s...

Rob Doran - 1/1000s f/4.8 ISO720

... then taking the shutter speed down once it gets to ISO 800...

Bram Johnstone - 1/800s f/5.6 ISO800

... going back to increasing ISO once the speed is down to 1/500s.

Andy Paxton retrieves the ball for Jacob Jones to take a quick throw in - 1/500s f/5.6 ISO900

Whilst we made some good moves towards goal, from the pictures it looked as though we spent a lot of time inside our own half.

We came out with more bite in the second half, and thought we had been rewarded when James McCulloch put the ball in the net. However, the goal was disallowed, we think for a foul on the keeper. I caught a sequence, so readers can decide for themselves, and ponder whether still photography proves very much sometimes.

Ossett's Brett Souter gets a hand to the ball

The ball is now loose

James McCulloch puts it away

James McCulloch celebrates while Brett Souter appeals for a foul

The crucial point is between the first and second pictures - from my recollection and the planted position of James McCulloch's right foot in the second picture I think the ball slipped out of Brett Souter's hand as he tried to gather it in, but I can see how the referee concluded that it was kicked whilst he had control of it.

There was no doubt a few minutes later when Dale Wright marked his return with a goal from the edge of the penalty area.

It was a nervous time for the next few minutes, and it looked as though we had made it, until the visitors scored from a goalmouth scramble half a minute from time to secure the replay.

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 1 (Wright) Ossett Albion 1

Playing off

A few years ago, on a trip to Italy, our group were surprised, at Pisa's ground on a midweek afternoon in late May, to find a match. As far as we could work out, this was a post season friendly. Prescot Cables had one such at New Mills last weekend, filming for an advert, followed by a hog roast for the players. I am not sure about the latter's attraction for spectators, not only can you watch the team play, you can watch them eat too. I was tempted, but the noon kick off was a deterrent.

I therefore left them to it, and headed for the North West Counties League Division 1 play off between Barnton and Bacup Borough. The visitors have returned to their original name after experimenting with Bacup of Rossendale Borough for reasons I never understood, but which seemed to have something to do with a witch. At least, I think that is what their local paper said.

I arrived at Lime Street Station to find Paul from the Train Crew had the same idea, but our train to Warrington would be late enough to miss the bus. Not that we worked that out from the departures board, where it was shown as on time, but the incoming stock was arriving after it was due to depart. Richie, our leader in beer and pub choices, was to join us in Warrington, so a quick call confirmed that his wife, Sharon, was happy to drive us in return for lunch, which we enjoyed at the Holly Bush, off the A49.

In Barnton, we adjourned to the Cricket Club, only to find they open the bar at 1pm only in the football season, waiting until 4pm once the cricket is under way. To be fair, almost everyone in the ground looked to be playing, and keeping a pint at square leg is not as popular as it used to be. Inter sport co-operation in Barnton had slipped, as a fair proportion of the 549 people at the football may have enjoyed the range of ales not available elsewhere.

Barnton has a fairly basic ground, with a small stand and a covered standing area opposite, although I believe they are adding a couple of modular stands over the summer. My preferred position would have been towards the bottom of the slope on the dugout side, but this was fenced off due to not having hard standing, so I stood on the opposite side. Once it became apparent the crowd was sensibly occupying the area anyway, I was already settled.

For the second week in succession, I was watching black and white versus yellow and blue.

The sun was frequently permitting "the base contagious clouds to cover up his beauty from the world" (I would have been able to take up Newcastle Benfield's offer of free entry on recital of a Shakespeare speech a couple of weeks previously), although not so much "being wanted he may be more wondered at", more playing havoc with my exposures and the temperature.

Former Prescot Cables players were represented, with Barnton's Richie Mottram ...

... and Joe Fielding.

I see a lot of headers (which, given the way the SLR camera works, means I miss the best photos). However, my timing has worked here, and the shape of the ball looks quite alarming.

I am not sure where the referee was telling the players to position themselves.

Barnton had the best of the play in the first half, but never looked like scoring, despite the advantage of the slope. They still dominated in the second half, but we wondered by the end if it was possible to skip extra time on the grounds no-one looked like scoring however long they had. I was glad we had come by car, as the last bus to Warrington was not long after normal time: extra time would have meant a bus via Northwich, and penalties would have got me home at about 10pm.

For the last 30 minutes, I went behind the goal at the bottom of the slope, and experimented with looking through the net. You want a hint of net ...

... but too much can make the picture look cloudy.

The hosts defied my prediction, and scored twice to secure promotion in line with their league form.

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

Final score: Barnton 2 Bacup Borough 0

Goals scored, achieved and in progress

The weather for Prescot Cables' home game against Droylsden was nothing to write home about, being mainly cloudy. Fortunately it had not rained for a few days, allowing a full league programme. The dull grey light of an overcast day can confuse the white balance on the camera, and pictures alternate between a natural colour and a red hue, leaving people looking a bit puce. Tweaking the hue and saturation helps, and at some point I might try using a preset value. Raw files give more options to adjust white balance, but I am reluctant to use them for an afternoon game, as the disadvantages of buffering and processing time outweigh the advantages with my current equipment.

The visitors scored first after a number of our chances were saved, hit the woodwork, or went just wide. This seemed to be what we needed to press home our attack, with Lloyd Dean scoring the equaliser less than a minute later.

Lloyd Dean

The scores remained level at half time.

Not be outdone, Rob Doran scored 10 minutes into the second half. I did not get a picture, and the "sets off for goal" picture did not have the quality to make one of my press photos.

Rob Doran

Droylsden replicated our performance in the first half, scoring the equaliser almost immediately afterwards. Lloyd Dean made the crucial difference ten minutes later with his second goal.

The match report on the website was illustrated by the picture above of Antony Shinks. I cropped it as a crowd shot, although, as a number of people observed, many people take the opportunity of a throw into check their mobile devices, speak to their neighbours, or see what Jazz is doing on the Gasworks Side.

Jazz McCulloch

I was illustrating that crowds have increased by about 25% from last season. This more or less occurred as soon as Andy Paxton took over as Manager, and we have only had one or two league crowds below 200 since. The additional people (and those who have been around for a while) are seeing things on the field heading upwards. Lloyd Dean's first goal meant we have scored more goals than last season with eight weeks to go, more points after Burscough a couple of weeks ago, and more wins after the visit to Scarborough in January. Obviously we have to wait to see where we finish in the league, but it is a relief not needing to look sideways at the likes of Fleet Town to see who is better placed for reprieves from relegation. Researching this post, I see Fleet are having a better season too, so someone in Hampshire is probably relieved not to be looking at us.

Andy Paxton, Steve Pilling, Roy Grundy, Garry Williams

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 (Dean 2, Doran) Droylsden 2.