The right stop

I have been to Ossett on so many occasions, I can now travel on autopilot. I can even afford to be vague as to which club we are playing: if I find our coach parked outside Ossett Town, opposite the bus station, it is time to get off, whereas if it is not, I need to stay on for a couple more stops to Albion.

I had seen the team sheet online, and a few of us were surprised Lloyd Dean was on the bench. However, we have just assembled not just a team that plays well together, but a squad can do so in a surprising number of permutations, allowing us to take full advantage to rotate players. Unusually for this level, this also applies in goal, with Ben Barnes having performed well whilst Marcus Burgess was injured, and Marcus was able to return whilst Ben was on holiday.

Marcus Burgess

I have remarked before on the microclimate affecting Ingfield, being a couple of degrees colder than the town. Our video analyst Josh remarked that it was a bit cold, but he says that in places I think have been positively balmy for the time of year. I have noticed since working pitchside, that the perimeter fence often provides a convenient windbreak, an advantage he does not have, being often above the protection even of the ground perimeter.

I was not keen on the width (or lack of it) of the run off behind the goal, so I took up position by the side of the pitch. The ground has a slight slope, and falls away sharply behind one end, so you get plenty of shots against the sky. Add that this was the earliest sunset of the year for us (it had been getting later for a week, but we were further east than the previous week), throw in a sky that political journalist and Dulwich Hamlet supporter Conor Pope once described as "England Euro 96 away shirt grey", and there were some good contrasts.

James Edgar

I was only just settled in my place when James Edgar opened the scoring. I had better luck capturing the shot when Josh Klein-Davies added a second.

Josh Klein-Davies lines up his shot

Chris Almond ensured we had a healthy three goal lead at half time.

Chris Almond

At half time I did a quick photoshoot for Josh, who wanted a picture for the cover of his university coursework. With people doing things like working a camera, it is considerably easier to take a picture of them pretending to do so in a controlled situation rather than trying to catch them doing so in the wild.

For the second half, I went to the bottom of the hill, and found a similar issue with the width of the run off, so I settled for the side again. I was barely in position before James Edgar opened the scoring for the half. More or less my first shot was the celebration.

I had operated for most of the first half on shutter priority, as the sports mode was giving me too slow a speed, and left the metering in spot mode from the previous game. For this half the floodlights came fully into play, so I tried centre weighted, before settling on matrix (which is also used by the sports mode). The lights at Ossett are quite bright and white so it worked quite well.

Reece Fishwick

Our fifth goal came directly from a free kick from the touchline by Josh Klein Davies, with Chris Almond completing a repeat of the scoring pattern from the first half.

A late substitution also saw Tunde Owolabi return to the team, after short spells at Hyde United and Glossop North End.

Tunde Owolabi

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

Final score: Ossett Town 0 Prescot Cables 6 (Edgar 2, Klein-Davies 2, Almond 2)

The rainfall map

At this time of year, online weather forecasts become as familiar as feeds on social networks, which themselves are filled with pitch inspections. Weather forecasts are complex: observations are fed into about 50 models, and the resulting forecast is what they suggest as the most likely outcome. Local forecasts, such as on the Met Office app, generally give a probability there will be rain, and an indication of how heavy and sustained it is likely to be. There is also a rainfall map, showing how the rain is predicted to progress across the country. The fun starts when the two do not agree. On Friday evening before Prescot Cables' game at home to Kendal Town, the summary suggested the probability of rain would fall to <5% after 10pm, but the rainfall map was suggesting a band of heavyish rain moving slowly over the area until 6am. I am not sure what that juxtaposition means - perhaps that it is not likely to rain, but if it does you will know about it.

There had been a call for volunteers to help prepare the pitch, but an absence of tweets suggested the rain had held off, and there was no need for an inspection. Clubs usually call in a referee to inspect if there is any doubt: if they do not, and the game is subsequently called off, they may be liable for the visitors' wasted coach travel. The going seemed good to soft (oops, wrong sport) when I went on to the pitch to take the pictures of the mascots.

The day started brightly, but the cloud was advancing quickly, with the floodlights being needed after about 20 minutes.

Jordan Wynne - two minutes in, f/4.8, 135mm 1/800s ISO800

Dominic Reid, on the half hour, f/4.8 1/500s 140mm ISO2200

I spent some time on the Gasworks Side to keep up with our defence, who were performing well.

James Doyle keeps a close eye on the ball

We took our chance early in the second half when Dale Wright headed in a Harry Cain corner.

Harry Cain takes the corner ...

... Dale Wright heads for goal ...

... and hovers in mid air to watch it go in.

Celebrating

This was cancelled out a few minutes later when the visitors scored with a quick move from a goal kick. We made strenuous efforts to restore our advantage, with a number of saves and near misses, a declined appeal for a penalty and a goal disallowed for offside.

After the game, it was time to catch up on presentations after most of the last month on the road, with the Rogues & Rascals Barbershop Man of the Match going to Dominic Reid, the Warrington Motors Player of the Month for January to Valter Fernandes, and for February to Dominic Marie.

Dominic Marie

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) Kendal Town 1

Cup preliminaries

Everything was ready as I arrived for Prescot Cables' FA Cup Preliminary Round game against Trafford. The teams were arriving, the bar was stocked, and our Chairman's lucky FA Cup suit (which is only intermittently lucky) was pressed and ready. As the visiting coaching staff arrived, Andy Paxton lent them a couple of poles for their goalkeeping warm up to save their going back to the car to get theirs ... just as one, not observing this transaction, went back to the car to get theirs.

I was early as I had been commissioned to take the team photo. Last year's was a rushed affair, but I made a careful note of how we came to have a rather lopsided lineup, and had plans to avoid similar pitfalls. The only obstacle was rain, and that held off for a while longer than forecast, so there was no problem. Unfortunately, communication had gone wrong, Andy Paxton only found out in the morning, so had not been able to brief the players, so we postponed it for a week. All was not lost, as coach Roy Grundy knew he would be away next week, so posed for his individual picture.

Roy Grundy

Having arrived before the turnstile opened, I had not had to pay to get in. I therefore headed to the bar.

There were a couple of changes from the last two games, with Jack Phillips and Phil Bannister making their first starts of the season, and Neil Weaver making his first competitive start for the club.

Neil Weaver

The weather was changeable, as was my camera position. I went out into the open into a few spots of rain...

Nathan Quirk

... then put the cover on as the rain got heavier, retreated to the Gasworks side to avoid the wind blowing rain on to the front of the lens...

Lloyd Dean

... only to find the gusts were coming from more than one direction, once again retreated to the Safari Park End when the sun came out and I was looking into it...

Jacob Jones

... then went back under the stand when it started to rain again.

Trafford had a strong side, with reports suggesting they had recruited a number of those of last season's Warrington side who did not want to commit to the travelling in the higher division. They scored what would prove to be the only goal of the game just before half time.

For the second half, it looked as though it had stopped raining, so I went outside to cover the same side of the pitch as for most of the first half (and therefore the opposite side of our team).

Josh Nicholson

However, the rain drove me back under the cover.

The Management watch Jack Phillips. The visitors have recruited Mr Baxter from Grange Hill.

I was happy with the ViewNX software, minimising grain, but not noise reducing out the rain.

Phil Bannister

The Rogues & Rascals Barbershop Man of the Match award was won by Bram Johnstone. I am making progress on the quick processing for this, converting to jpeg on the camera (much better quality than on the phone), uploading with the Nikon WMU at full size, and then a quick crop with the phone's built in editor.

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 Trafford 1

The special soup

For Prescot Cables' visit to Glossop North End, engineering works halved the train service between Liverpool and Manchester. Having experienced the same the previous week, I travelled on the team coach. I thought of frequenting the Star opposite the station, but everybody else went into the ground, so I joined them and had a pint of Howard Town Longdendale Light in the clubhouse. One table was laid with tablecloths and place settings, presumably for sponsors, although the quality of the Mettrick's pies meant they were eating the same as us, just with plates, knives and forks. When I had finished my pint, I bought a lamb and mint pasty, and went to watch the players warming up.

One reason I took the coach was that the weather did not look pleasant for a pre match walk, but it gave me the opportunity to try my technical changes in a variety of conditions. We started playing towards the clubhouse when the rain had only just stopped and the sky was still dark. This is the first time I have had to switch to shutter priority mode (at 1/320s) during the afternoon this season.

Joe Herbert

It was, however, as my mother used to say, referring to clearer sky in the distance, a bit lighter over Bill's mother's. I never understood this phrase, being unclear who Bill was, and his mother never seemed to live in the same place. It was bright on the field, with another early goal from Lloyd Dean.

Match action seemed to be in midfield so I moved next to the dugouts. By this time the sun was coming out, so I went back to the sports mode on the camera.

Antony Shinks

The hosts equalised through Jamie Rainford on the half hour.

Surrey Street is a picturesque addition to our division, with fine views in most directions. There is also a reminder of the town's industrial heritage / blot on the landscape (delete according to preference) in the shape of a large chimney, no longer in operation, which no-one has been able to afford to dismantle, but which provides a handy landmark.

For the second half I followed the the same pattern as the first, starting behind the goal we were attacking...

Shane Glean

... and quickly moving towards the half way line. There was some heavy rain, then the sun broke through the clouds which gave some good effects.

George Mannion

The trees cast some irregular shadows: raw format let me deal with these much more effectively than I would have been able with jpegs.

James Edgar

A slightly lucky goal about 15 minutes from time handed all the points to Glossop.

Most clubs close their tea bar after half time, as there is little demand after this. However, clubs are obliged to provide hot food for the players and match officials after the game, so Glossop also keep the hatch open after the game.

Whilst one tends to be wary about "special stuff" in these parts, I can confirm this was a most tasty pea soup.

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

Final score: Glossop North End 2 Prescot Cables 1 (Dean).

Well, that escalated quickly

I had been expecting rain for Prescot Cables game at home against Glossop North End, and, as I had not replaced the hood I lost a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering where to stand to get a decent view without getting wet. There were some cask ales from the Melwood Beer Company in the bar: the Walloper Gold the brewery makes for us is usually on keg dispense, presumably to avoid losses from tapping a cask before a late postponement and the contents going unsold. I need not have worried about the weather, and I found a plastic pint glass somewhat tricky to handle in conjunction with the camera.

Our Train Crew is often mentioned in these pages as respectable people naming themselves like a dodgy outfit from the late seventies. Some Glossop supporters with a minibus had the same idea.

I took up position in front of the tea bar, as against Witton in midweek, although this time I was alongside the half we were attacking.

I have reported over the last few weeks that we have kept about half the side we had at the end of last season. However, that has come a bit undone, with only three of the team that played against Padiham on the team sheet for this game, with Joe Evans, James Edgar and Ben Morrow all on the bench. I was unsure on the whereabouts of the others, apart from Jonah O'Reilly, who was injured.

Phil Bannister has been getting back into his stride since rejoining.

Phil Bannister

We did not have a good first half, not only conceding three goals, but also losing Leon Williams and Rob Doran to injury.

Rob Doran

In the second half, we seemed to be playing a bit more as a team, but we still conceded a fourth goal.

With three poor results from three poor performances, there was talk of whether the manager's position was in jeopardy. This seemed premature, although the board would need to feel he was on top of the situation. I am not aware of any discussion that took place between Neil and the board, but they clearly did not feel they had the reassurance they needed, and the following afternoon the League posted a club statement that we had parted company with Neil Prince.

The problem was that this was not the first anyone heard of it, as the news dribbled out on social media, with the first club related statement being from the Reserves' Twitter feed that Joe Gibiliru Senior would be taking temporary charge of the first team. I see how they reached the conclusion that the news was in the public domain, but it points to a gap in our communications. Hopefully the new website will be active soon, as it will allow multiple people to add content, and make it easier to ensure the club's official channels are the first to issue news.

I enjoyed the football Neil Prince's team played last season, with a decent group of young players - perhaps the team I have felt most attached to over the years - and we avoided relegation with a couple of weeks to spare, so this blog wishes Neil well in his future endeavours.

Neil Prince

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 0 Glossop North End 4.

Following St Swithun

A couple of Wednesdays ago was St Swithun's Day. In East Grinstead, the main parish church was dedicated to the saint, so we took an interest in the legend that we will enjoy, or otherwise, the weather on his feast for the next forty days. Naturally, about three days later, the weather changed and we forgot about it for another year. The weather here has been fairly dry, so, at Prescot Cables' first home pre season game against St Helens Town, the pitch was looking in need of a couple of days' steady rain.

St Swithun's Day also marked the eightieth birthday of stalwart Cables supporter Harry Thomas.

Harry prepares his team talk

Congratulations are also due to my friend Luke, who was awarded his PhD over the summer. I was pleased to see Dr Luke and Dr James immaculately attired for their graduation: suits (not shirt sleeves) under the robes, polished shoes, and ties covering the top button, just like everyone turned out when I graduated (just a Bachelor's) in ... er ... the year before Luke was born. I expected nothing less: as a referee, Dr James is aware there is a point on the assessment for turning up with the correct equipment.

I do not usually cover two games in one post, but this is pre season, and both were at home, so ...

We have been in competition with St Helens Town since they were re-founded after the Second World War, and they played at their ground in the shadow of Bold Power Station, and we played there for a season whilst Prescot Panthers took over our ground. Sadly, it was then their turn to fall into the clutches of the professionals, and they now ground share at Ashton Athletic.

We all know the referee tosses a coin, and the winner usually chooses an end, but who gets to call? On this occasion the duty goes to the captain with the bushier beard.

There had been a good turnout of returning players in midweek, and most were also available for this fixture.

Danny Flood

The game at Runcorn had felt like something of a training exercise, but this time honour was at stake, so the balance of pictures between "profile picture" shots and action in competition for the ball was back to normal.

Paul Cliff holds off the opposition

The game was a good workout for the team, with league position proving decisive in the final result.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 3 St Helens Town 1.

For the game last Tuesday hosting Skelmersdale United, the weather forecast had been changeable. The evening turned out dry, but the darkest of the cloud settled over the ground - oddly with lighter conditions visible in most directions - which did not help with shutter speeds.

James Edgar

The sun broke through in patches towards the end of the first half.

Neil Prince

I wondered why the Skelmersdale substitutes were wearing red. The reason became apparent at half time, as the visitors fielded a separate team in each half. They have the strength in depth to do so - players who have gone to Skelmersdale in the past have sometimes found it is not a pathway to a guaranteed first team place..

The visitors' first half team had finished one goal up after a missed communication led to an own goal - something you prefer to happen now than in the first game of the season. Our best opportunity of the second half came as I was walking round to my usual position, with Liam Hollett putting Jonah O'Reilly's free kick just wide.

Liam Hollett

At this time of year, sunset is at about the end of the game, which with the right conditions can mean we can use natural light almost to the end. With the cloud cover, this was not one of those occasions, with the floodlights switched on at half time.

Ben Greenop

This was an encouraging performance against a team a division above, with our holding out for most of the half, until conceding from a free kick a minute or two from the end.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 0 Skelmersdale United 2

Cast not a clout

There is a well known saying, "cast not a clout till May be out", suggesting the inadvisability of putting one's coat aside too early in the year. Rod, our drummer at Prescot Cables, insists it is "till the may be out ", i.e. the hawthorn, or may blossom, is flowering, although opinions on this vary. The first record of the saying is in 1706, when the Julian calendar was in use in England, so one should possibly keep a coat handy until the second week in June.

When I set out for the Cheshire v Lancashire game in the County Championship for the Bill Beaumont Cup at Chester RUFC, cold weather was forecast.

The club had a stand on one side, and a modern clubhouse on the other, signs indicating 12 pitches, and facilities for other sports including the County Squash Centre. The club sits next to the A55, so I am not sure whether they sold any land for the bypass, and were able to extend their facilities with the purchase money. There was a decent crowd on both sides, which restricted the movement up and down the touchline that is ideal for taking pictures of a rugby game.

The sun that had been promised for later was starting to break through, so I took up position on the stand side under the trees, the same side of the pitch as the coaches, etc. There is a technical area marked out, but they seem more relaxed than in football about whether anyone stays in it. Even the flags are pressed into service, although I am not sure they provide much support.

All sports need sponsors: with Sharp's Brewery's Doom Bar becoming a national brand in a short time, by sponsoring rugby union they gain access to a market that likes the cask conditioned product, but wants certainty as to what they will be getting. I am happy to drink it in a pub or club serving just one or two national brands, but pass it over if there are more local or unusual beers available. There is scope for confusion as to whether you are referring to the product or the place you are selling it.

My recollection of the first half was as something for the expert, with a lot of scrums and mauls, with the former having to be reset quite a few times.

However, I got a few decent running shots too.

Rugby union came to have numbers on shirts later than football, and no-one has considered the idea of putting them on the front of the shirt. There is a firm link between number and position, and none of football's superstition about the number 13.

However, one of the Cheshire replacements seemed to have a shirt from a different series, and definitely was not a fly half.

For the second half I took up position by the other end of the stand, looking across the sun that had now fully emerged. Lancashire established a commanding lead, assisted by Christopher Johnson's reliable kicking.

In the last few seasons, Lancashire have had a majority of their replacements, as well as a number of the starting XV, from Fylde, making good use of the players' familiarity with each other to come from behind in a number of games. However, this year, eleven of the starting XV were from Fylde, with replacements from elsewhere. Cheshire did not give up, with a last minute converted try securing a losing bonus point.

By the end of the game, the sun was fully out. I chose to walk back to Chester, and could have done with casting my coat, but then I would not have had it to hand when it got cold again.

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

Final score: Lancashire 21 (T Stewart, Arnold; C Johnson, P Johnson 3) Cheshire 18