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 view of Westmorland

I have often heard that the town of Kendal has a picturesque setting. I had never seen it, my previous visits having been in the rain or at night. The forecast for our game at Kendal Town was for bright weather, so I took an early train and went to Windermere. Being unable to see a hill without wondering what is at the top, I walked up to Orrest Head, where the advertised views were most definitely available.

Returning to Kendal, the day was still bright and sunny, but the west of the ground has a stand and a number of trees, so there were plenty of shadows. I usually just need to use the automatic settings on Nikon ViewNX 2 to convert my files from raw to jpeg for processing. I sometimes wonder whether it would be easier to shoot in jpeg and let the camera do the work, but ViewNX 2 makes use of the computer's processing power and not having to deliver a result in a second or so. In some high contrast situations, I need to work on raw files manually, and this time I used the facility for 15 - 20 frames.

Phil Bannister

In some locations, the players cast strong shadows on themselves.

Ben Cartwright

Now that Brian Richardson had seen the squad for training we were expecting a few changes. The only new(ish) face was goalkeeper Phil Priestly, who played in the Liverpool Senior Cup semi final in July, but has been with Skelmersdale United in the meantime.

Phil Priestly

James McCulloch was in midfield, having played in defence so far this season. He has played there before, but has been accustomed to midfield in recent years, and looked particularly effective on this occasion.

James McCulloch

Dominic Marie was on the bench: having joined in pre season, he was making his first competitive appearance.

Dominic Marie

The hosts made the most of the terrain, as you expect the home side to do - I still remember with some bewilderment the Cables manager a few years ago who said our pitch made it difficult to play our preferred game. They got the ball downhill as quickly as possible, endangering our goal, and, even when we cleared, making us tire ourselves chasing it back uphill. It was effective, giving them two goals.

Garry Williams emerged at half time to brief the substitutes that we would attempt the same in the second half - he also briefed me, as he thought it might be good for a few photos. He was right on that, assisted by my taking up position in the bottom corner of the ground, and by the floodlights being switched on during half time.

Jacob Jones

It took longer to work in the footballing sense, with the hosts scoring another before we were able to break our own drought, with Lloyd Dean scoring on 67 minutes.

Lloyd Dean

Despite keeping up the pressure, we were unable to add to this.

It is sometimes said that in this country we do not take cold seriously. I remember a few years ago visiting Helsinki over the second weekend in September: when I arrived on Thursday there were plenty of short sleeves, by Monday everyone was in seriously warm looking coats. Following a mild October, I did not realise how quickly the temperature had dropped, so I was slow to adopt extra layers and gloves. I declined the offer of another lift from the Johnstones, having in mind a pint or two in the Ring O'Bells with their local ales and open fire. I needed it by the time I got there, I had lost feeling to the extent I needed to pick my first pint up from the bar with both hands.

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

Final score: Kendal Town 3 Prescot Cables 1 (Dean)

Welsh and techie stuff

To alleviate any alarm, I am not taking the opportunity of Prescot Cables' game against Colwyn Bay to create a technical blog in Welsh. My knowledge of the language is limited to stock phrases like "Dim ysmygu", of no use to me as I do not smoke, "Dim parcio", likewise as I do not drive, and North Wales Police's Bobbies on buses scheme, deploying officers to combat crime and anti social behavour on public transport, "Bobbis ar bysys". I am sure that should be "Bobbiau ar bysiau", but we will let that pass. With a relatively uneventful game, I thought I would follow up my comments about file sizes with a couple of examples of the position in the evening.

This was an important game to see how the team recovered from the heavy defeat at the weekend. For a note of pessimism, we were joined by Dr Jon, attending his first game of the season, discussing whether he had ever seen us win a game. Well, they say it is the hope that kills you ...

We looked last time at pictures of play in front of the advertising. I do not get much from this angle at evening games, as I go to the Gasworks Side, so I am standing behind it. However, before I went round, I captured this shot. Saturday's pristine white has been replaced by a darker shade, and there is plenty of grain.

Joe Herbert

We can see the same in this shot of our goal. The inside of the stand looks black at lower resolutions, but at a bigger size we can quickly see the grain.

Tom Brocklehurst

All this makes for a bigger file, and therefore those extra seconds waiting for it to load for processing, adding up over 100 or so images, and working all the way through to the time to upload. The album, with 60 or so pictures, from this game was about 30MB larger than that from Saturday. It is one reason why the pictures from a Tuesday evening game usually only appear on Friday.

James Edgar

For about the first 15 minutes of the game, the team still looked shocked from Saturday, but after that started to put in a much better performance. Unfortunately it was in that 15 minutes that we conceded the only goal of the game, against opponents who were difficult to break down, and a few of whom sounded as though may not have had as far to come as you might expect.

Rob Doran

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 0 Colwyn Bay 1.

Changing a lightbulb

Prescot Cables continued their pre season programme with a visit from 1874 Northwich, who we met in last season's F.A.Cup. This was another evening game, with cooler and cloudier, but drier, weather than against Charnock Richard the previous week. This meant we would be unlikely to complete the game without the floodlights. The positive side was that the mosquitoes that had liberally populated the Gasworks Side last week had gone home for an early night.

The light was a bit gloomy, which often does not work well with the automated creation of jpeg files, saving them on the camera, or using the batch conversion in ViewNx. However, I was able to fix everything in editing without needing to adjust the lighting in raw.

Joe Nicholson

We went ahead with a goal from Andy Scarisbrick, included here on the "goal is a goal" principle. We will not see him wearing that number very much, but for these games players seem to be putting on whatever number is at the top of the laundry basket, which makes sense when most are substituted at some point.

Snapping from the side gives the chance to catch those pictures of a throw in that give exposure to the shirt back sponsor.

At half time, it was time to capture the shots Paul, the programme editor, wanted to use for this season's cover. There was the obligatory view of the stand (not many clubs have anything like it) ...

... and a view of the gates and smart new sign promoting the ground sponsor, Volair, Knowsley Council's organisation for leisure services, who are providing training facilities at the new Prescot Soccer Centre.

The floodlights came on for the second half, which the software seemed to like - this was my first use of ViewNX with images from under our own lights.

Sam Staunton-Turner

We continue to see players progressing from the Youth team, with last year's goalkeeper and Manager's Player of the Year James Burke taking his turn in goal - so much for my being unsure of his age when he made his début for the First team away to Northwich Victoria.

James Burke

The visitors pulled a goal back, with a group of their supporters singing that they had not come to mess around - an attitude confirmed by both sides with a competitive second half.

As I walked round to the clubhouse towards the end of the game...

Make  people think you are a hopper by taking a picture of a corner flag

... I spotted an outstanding job had been completed. Soon after the current floodlights were installed, the bulb went in one of the heads between the stand and the Safari Park End, which has rendered that corner unavailable for photography. It has now been replaced, no small undertaking. I cannot remember if the column unscrews at the bottom, but either way the equipment and skilled personnel required costs more than the bulb. Play seems to have been unaffected: I mentioned it to Jonah O'Reilly, who had not noticed.

James McCulloch, illuminated by the repaired floodlights

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 (Scarisbrick) 1874 Northwich 1.

It never rains in Southern California

At Sedgley Park on the other hand...

I have not seen much of Lancashire's campaign in the rugby union County Championship for the Bill Beaumont Cup this year, sticking with football for the end of the North West Counties League season. However, I was free for the last game, against Cheshire, at the familiar venue of Sedgley Tigers (or Park, as those of us of a traditional bent pronounce it). The weather in Manchester was as expected, with the air close enough to give me an urgent desire to open a window, until I remembered I was already outdoors.

I am always surprised by the number of spectators at these games wearing wellingtons. Facilities vary between grounds, and the authorities are not as keen as in football to ensure you stay on the hard standing, but even so, it seems like overkill. Wet weather protection was, however, needed quickly after the kick off, as a large cloud dumped its load on us.

You do not expect to see steam coming off the scrum at this time of year.

Once the rain had passed, the light was fairly even, with the sun occasionally poking through light cloud. There were more dark clouds in the distance, which I hoped would not bring more rain, as I had a line of washing out to dry.

I experimented a bit with the resulting images. A disadvantage of shooting in raw is the extra processing time, so I was looking to speed this up. I tried the ViewNX 2 software that came with the camera. If I want to make changes to the raw file, it does not have any speed advantages over Photoshop Elements, and indeed seems considerably slower. However, if the only changes could as easily be made to the jpg, it offers a batch conversion. As this uses a lot of cpu resource and little memory or disk, whereas editing uses the opposite, I can start editing as soon as a couple of jpgs have emerged from the process.

The results seemed quite crisp.

It was not always as clear what was going on.

It even looked at one point as though the referee was thinking of making a move with the ball.

Lancashire have been successful in these encounters for the last few years, with the county almost being an extension of the successful Fylde sides, and reaching seven successive Finals. With a number of players appearing to have retired, and a change of management at Fylde, Lancashire's dominance looks to be slipping, with the visitors securing a clear win to claim the place in the Final. Things were worse the other side of the Pennines, with Yorkshire finishing bottom of the group.

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

Final score: Lancashire 11 Cheshire 27.

Unseasonably warm

The first couple of weeks of November were unseasonably warm. I cannot remember getting so far into the month without the thermostat turning my central heating on. However, the rain was more seasonal, with some expressing concern before Prescot Cables' game against Clitheroe that it might be rained off. A number of other local fixtures fell to the weather, but ours survived with no sign of standing water. This probably helped our attendance: we certainly had a couple of visitors from Skelmersdale United - either to see how Andy Paxton was getting on or on a scouting mission.

We were joined by a German guest. Dr Mike, who watched Cables whilst researching at the University of Liverpool, had brought some relatives and friends for a short visit. He and most of his party procured tickets for Old Trafford via a method that sounded as dodgy as it was inconvenient, but his cousin Markus, a supporter of SpVgg Unterhaching, elected to join us in Prescot.

More heavy rain fell when we were in the pub before the game, but by the start the sun had returned temporarily. I made my way around the pitch in the opposite direction to my normal practice, going first behind our own goal. I was rewarded with some pictures of our defence with the sun behind them.

Jonah O'Reilly with Clitheroe's Sefton Gonzales

With the sun low in the sky, some pictures had a lot of back lighting, not necessarily from looking into the sun, but also from its reflection on the perimeter fence. This could be dealt with using the raw converter but would probably have been unsalvageable relying on the JPEG from the camera.

Antony Shinks - as captured on camera ...

... and the picture rescued

The rugby was on the television in the bar...

The game was goalless at half time. Rob Doran giving us the lead early in the second half. Clitheroe restored parity through Sefton Gonzales fifteen minutes from the end. Although both sides looked as though they could score, we were primarily working to retain the point. The defence performed well, with some sterling work from Marcus Burgess ...

... and good backup when needed.

Joe Herbert clears off the line

Another solid performance, assisted by some tactical timing from the crowd returning balls that had gone into the space on the gasworks side to purchase a few seconds breathing space, ensured we held on to a hard fought point against a team currently in a play off position.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 1 (Doran) Clitheroe 1.

An absolute humdinger from 25 yards out

Listeners to the excellent Forward the Hamlet podcast will be familiar with the opening sequence, in which my friend Richard, who posts on Dulwich Hamlet forums as Pink Panther, describes, in his distinctively deep and clear voice, a goal as "an absolute humdinger from 25 yards out". At Prescot Cables' game against Trafford, we had one too, of which more later.

I had agreed that before the game I would photograph Phil Bannister's presentation for 100 appearances. I got a bus to get there in plenty of time, but an accident on the M56 was causing congestion for 20 miles around, so it was a bit late. This would not have been a problem, had the driver not slowed down once past the congestion as though he was early. The presentation therefore had a rushed air, and certainly no time for speeches. At least I got a picture for Phil and his family.

Doug Lace (Club Secretary), Phil Bannister, Andy Paxton

We played at Trafford earlier in the season, losing 8-0, watched by Andy Paxton, who was to be appointed as manager the following morning. Things did not bode well for this return fixture, with an early goal from the visitors, and a first half performance that left something to be desired. We were, however, able to level the scores towards half time with a goal from Rob Doran.

Rob Doran

My photographic experiments continued: where the ball or part of the action is set against the night sky, I try to keep the background as dark as possible. Using the raw file editor, we can use the levels and noise reduction to remove grain and enhance this effect.

Joe Herbert

The second half immediately looked as though it would be much better, with a penalty converted by Rob Doran in the first few minutes. I had found the first half frustrating photographically, with most play in front of the stand, when I was on the gasworks side. The second half was more promising.

Danny Flood

Phil Bannister celebrated his award with the goal of the match, and a contender for goal of the season. This was our "absolute humdinger from 25 yards out", leaving the defence and goalkeeper standing. I was standing in front of Jonah O'Reilly's father, who often gets our goals on video, and neither of us were surprised not to have captured it. Get in!

The scoring was completed with our fourth goal from Lloyd Dean shortly before the end.

This result illustrates the turnaround since Andy Paxton became manager, particularly at home. In turn, attendances are about 30 or so up on the same period last season, and more people using the bar after the game. This has been achieved with relatively small changes in personnel. Of the starting XI, nine players were with us at the beginning of the season, with only Marcus Burgess and Lloyd Dean (who have admittedly been highly significant additions) having joined under the new management.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 4 (Doran 2, Bannister, Dean) Trafford 1.

They read a lot of newspapers

Some Premier League supporters wax lyrical about the times when games started at 3pm on Saturday. Leaving aside that some of us remember non league kickoffs as a moveable feast during the winter, if they want football at 3pm on Saturday, we can help them find some. When their games are at the traditional time, they often impact upon our travel. Prescot Cables' game at Droylsden coincided with Manchester City, on the same tram line, playing Bournemouth. I wondered whether I should catch a tram at Deansgate-Castlefield to beat the crowds, but there was efficient flow management at Piccadilly, so I had no difficulty getting the first tram.

The weather was quite light, with sunny intervals, which was new, as it has been gloomy on my previous visits. I started next to the stand ...

Phil Bannister

... and worked around behind the goal we were attacking.

James Edgar

Our old friend and former Assistant Manager Ged Murphy was playing: a slight surprise, as I thought he was concentrating on coaching. Whilst he coaches well from the technical area, it sounded as though his team mates did not always find his on field instructions helpful.

Ged Murphy

We were quickly ahead with a goal from James McCulloch.

James McCulloch

The sun started to come out as I was working my way round the ground. By the time I was opposite the stand, it was behind our players. The home goalkeeper did not look as though he expected it.

This was a chance to see whether shooting in raw made any difference with back lighting. We can use the lighten shadows function in Photoshop Elements, which can make the player look faded. Using the exposure functions on the raw image gave a better result.

Lloyd Dean

The hosts scored towards the end of the first half, and we restored our lead courtesy of Rob Doran early in the second.

Rob Doran

Two quick goals from Droylsden ten minutes later handed the lead to them, and they added a fourth at 80 minutes. However, we continued to play to the end, and snatched a goal from a rebound falling to Lloyd Dean. This was too close to full time for another, so we were disappointed to lose despite scoring three away from home.

Joining us from the bench was Joe Evans, recently signed from Cammell Laird. We already have a Joe Evans: it would be simpler if players were like actors, and could not have the same name as an existing performer. We seem to have adopted this solution on a small scale, with the new Joe Evans being Joseph for these purposes.

Joe Evans

Joseph Evans

This blog likes to keep an eye out for quirky items, and I spotted something for the Facebook page Non League Bins. Not many grounds get through enough newspapers to need two bins reserved for recycling them.

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

Final score: Droylsden 4 Prescot Cables 3 (McCulloch, Doran, Dean)