A fine comeback

Before Prescot Cables' game at Glossop North End, I adjourned for drinks with my travelling companions in the Star Inn, as convenient for the station as it can be without actually being in the building. I made sure I got to the ground in time for one of Mettrick's excellent pies, opting for the lamb and mint pasty. I was unable to find a fork, and made do with a spoon which made for an entertaining snack. The resident photographer was most helpful, pointing out the best side to stand for our team and the direction they would face for the handshakes.

We received bad team news during the week, with Marcus Burgess injuring his knee and suspecting he might be out for some time. During the week, in the FA Trophy at Stalybridge Celtic, Ethan Dorgan from the Youth Team had taken his place. I was unable to attend, but it sounded character building, as we exited the competition with a 5-1 defeat. For the medium term, we have signed Ben Barnes, who had been released by Marine.

Ben Barnes

As we play in yellow, I wear an orange hi-vis vest to avoid a clash. However, brighter shades are popular with opposition goalkeepers too.

Glossop's Paul Phillips denies Lloyd Dean

The quality of the light was excellent, with low autumn sunshine.

Dan Burn

Despite some good chances, we were unable to find the goal (or at least not the bit inside the woodwork), and went in 1-0 down.

As the clocks have now gone back, the light drops quickly in the second half.

Harry Cain

Former Cables player Tunde Owolabi has signed for the hosts after a short spell at Stalybridge, and came on from the bench after about an hour. He scored some useful goals for us, and quickly did the same for his new club. It looked as though it may be the all too familiar pattern of playing well and not getting a result.

However, the fightback came when Lloyd Dean got on the end of a rebound from a Jordan Wynne free kick on the edge of the penalty area twelve minutes from time.

Jordan Wynne

The team immediately set about trying to secure a point whilst I moved to the side of the pitch. Lloyd Dean followed up with a second two minutes later. It would have been tempting to try to hold on to a point, but we pushed for all three. Lloyd Dean was once again involved, forcing goalkeeper Paul Phillips to commit himself...

... before passing to Jordan Wynne to put the ball in the back of the net.

Scenes ensued.

Jordan Wynne is under there somewhere

Chris Almond also made a welcome appearance from the bench after missing most of the season so far due to injury.

Chris Almond

On the way back, my travelling companions and I stopped off in Manchester, where we encountered bizarre non-service in the Piccadilly Tap. I ordered drinks for three of us: the barman poured one and brought it over, then seemed to have a problem with the pump for the second. He disappeared for a few minutes, returned, still had a problem, disappeared again, and when he was unable for a third time to pour the pint, put on his coat and, without a word, left the building.

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

Final score: Glossop North End 2 Prescot Cables 3 (Dean 2, Wynne)

Rain stopped photography

We hoped Prescot Cables' game at home to New Mills would be dry, but rain was forecast to start around kick off, and it followed my bus to Prescot. To say the visitors have not enjoyed a good season is an understatement, as they had played 18 games without gaining a point. Rod, our drummer, was tempting fate pointing out we were not planning to give them a Christmas present when they came in from warming up. I did not catch the reply, but one word sounded like "off".

The pitch had last been used three weeks previously, and looked as though it had benefited from the rest, but the rain was heavy enough for the possibility of the match being abandoned. I took up position on the gasworks side.

Andy Scarisbrick

The weather was warmer than usual, so I did not realise how wet I, and more to the point my equipment, was getting, which would cause a problem later. The match officials seemed to have read that week's You are the Ref, as the referee was responding to the condition of the sides normally used by the assistants by using the right diagonal.

The visitors showed no sign of overcoming their difficulties, and Rob Doran scored after about 10 minutes.

Rob Doran

We consolidated our lead with two goals in quick succession a few minutes later from James Edgar, who has worked hard to keep opposition defences busy but has not been rewarded with goals.

James Edgar celebrates his first goal with George Mannion and Joe Nicholson

New Mills pulled a goal back just before half time, and I headed to the bar with a reasonable set of pictures, although I am still working on not noise reducing away the rain.

I went back to the gasworks side for the second half, where the rain seemed a little lighter, which may have been my imagination. I was starting to have a spot of bother, as I was running out of cloth (a normal handkerchief) for drying the front of the lens, and was just moving the water around. I was just about operational, although I missed James Edgar completing his hat trick in a bit of a goalmouth scramble, and thought Phil Bannister had scored it.

Phil Bannister

Shortly after this I had to stop, as I was suffering from condensation, something I have successfully avoided in seven or eight years taking pictures outdoors, There are precautions, like keeping the camera dry, and putting it in the bag before I go indoors. However, the mild damp weather created a similar environment in the camera, with the wind blowing on to a wet front of the lens creating a temperature difference and condensation. Once I had it, there was not a lot more I could do in the photo department, so I watched the last 25 minutes without viewing through a small rectangular window.

James McCulloch in my last usable picture of the day, half an hour from time

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 5 (Edgar 3, Doran 2) New Mills 2.

Nice cigar, but no try

Prescot Cables planned to make a special occasion of the game at home to Warrington Town, with local Mayors and the Member of Parliament being invited. Unfortunately, whilst the week had been reasonably dry, it rained overnight on Friday, and by Saturday morning the pitch was no longer playable. With most football in Liverpool being postponed, I decided to head for Birkenhead Park. The opposition of the day was Wirral RUFC, from a couple of miles down the road, so they could take a late decision on whether to play. A slippery pitch in football can lead to broken ankles, whereas rugby players are likely to end up flat on their faces in the mud, which is in many ways the idea. Standing water is, however, a problem for everyone.

At the time I needed to leave home, the game was still on, so I bought a ticket. Some refer to Merseytravel's Walrus card as "Oyster style", presumably meaning it is small and plastic. The essential component of Oyster is pay-as-you-go, whereas Walrus is pay-before-you-go, so you need the day planned before you first use public transport, and changes are either wasteful or expensive.

No sooner had I got on the bus, I found the game was postponed. However, Waterloo (one less zone on the Walrus) were still playing. This was against Sheffield, so if there was an announcement, it would have been made by then, although it was still raining heavily. I presented £10 at the turnstiles, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a programme and £7 in return.

I took a position on the terrace side, where there were pools of water: the pitch looked soft but playable. Waterloo were playing into a stiff breeze, with low cloud, and, with the floodlights being under repair, it was fortunate both sides' kit included some white

That did not last long, particularly for the forwards. although some of the backs tend to stay standing for longer.

Soon, mud was starting to merge with facial furniture.

For the second half, the hosts took advantage of being at home, and changed into dry kit, of a colour to do no favours to my exposures.

The referee also changed into something drier, although he was more visible.

This was a low scoring game, more rare in rugby of either code than a few years ago. Better pitches and rule changes have reduced the incidence of matches with pushing and shoving in the mud for 80 minutes finishing 3-0. This was not quite such a game, but the scores came from a penalty apiece in each half. I only attend three or four games a season, but I think this is the  first I have been to where both sides stayed in single figures, and the first where neither side scored a try.

As for the cigar, I was not actually going to attempt to smoke one (the last time I did was when you could do so indoors), it was far to wet for one to stay alight.

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

Final score: Firwood Waterloo 6 Sheffield 6

A visit from the leaders

Before Prescot Cables' game against Northwich Victoria it had rained heavily during the week, but been dry on Friday. Our Chairman was in correspondence on Twitter on Saturday morning with the visitors, advising that the pitch was playable, but its continuing to be so would depend on the weather. A referee was on standby to inspect, although it was not forecast to rain until around 1:30. It arrived a little later than anticipated, when I was at the bus stop following reports on Messenger from the club bar, local public houses and from those stuck with shopping, whilst trying to grasp why so many buses disappeared into thin air on travel apps (they have not invented one whose predictions cope with a sudden traffic jam).

Arriving at the ground a few minutes late, I was surprised to see the places that normally accumulate standing water had drained reasonably well. Low cloud as well as the rain meant lighting conditions were poor, with floodlights required from the outset.

Marcus Burgess was unwell so we saw Ben Morrow return to action for Cables.

Ben Morrow

Andy Paxton's policy is not to have a goalkeeper on the bench, which seems a sensible use of resources, as you rarely replace a goalkeeper unless he is injured or sent off. Ben has been at Widnes - for a young goalkeeper, being on loan a division below and gaining for first team experience is probably more productive than watching from the bench.

I took up position on the gasworks side, quickly realising this was not such a bright idea. After some time of my rain cover flapping in the "breeze", I joined everyone else taking shelter under the stand, which also provided some shelter from the wind. I am still working on a balance between showing rain in a picture and a decent amount of noise reduction.

Danny Flood

I was able to emerge again after a few minutes, to find some water in the goalmouth, but with the pitch otherwise bearing up. I have to admit to losing track of when in the weather related proceedings the visitors scored their first goal (the record says 20 minutes, which suggests in the downpour), but they scored again a minute from time in the first half.

James McCulloch & George Mannion

The second half was drier, so I just had the wind to contend with. We had the chance to score when Rob Doran was fouled just inside the penalty area, but put the resultant kick over the bar. I do not think it made any difference to the outcome: whilst we had a good performance, Northwich are top of the table for a reason, and we did not look like denting their armour.

James Edgar

With the poor lighting conditions, I had a limited range of pictures that came out at print quality. Although the Echo no longer produce the Merseymart supplement, so the shape is not as important as it was, landscape format is still better for their website, where they report on the club most weeks. I try to keep the player libraries at the Echo and TheNonLeague magazine up to date, which is not helped when the most suitable images are of exactly the same four players I sent in from the last game.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 0 Northwich Victoria 2.

Handy for the railway

Travel to Prescot Cables' game at Burscough on New Year's Day was almost as complicated as Boxing Day, with a limited bus service, Merseyrail operating a Sunday service, and Northern operating a weekday service, apart from local routes in the north east.

The combination allowed us to travel to Burscough Junction, a shorter journey than Burscough Bridge, but a longer walk at the end. My friend Luke observed that the station and the village seemed some distance apart: I replied, not entirely facetiously, that the station was built to be handy for the railway. There are many places where a town or village is some distance from its station, with a story that it was because residents did not want the railway - almost all are incorrect, and easily explained by a map showing that the railway follows the most logical route. The line from Ormskirk to Preston, built mainly for express services, follows a straight line across flat and open land, and has stations where it happens to pass near a settlement.

Team captain James McCulloch gave us a cheery wave as he drove past.

James McCulloch

The players need to be at the ground an hour and a half before the game to change, warm up, hear the manager's team talk etc. The supporters can be more relaxed, so we adjourned to the Hop Vine, which has a dress code - "No urban sportswear please". I was wearing a Cornwall rugby union shirt, but had no trouble being served, so my sportswear was presumably sufficiently rural.

Burscough's current club was founded in 1946. The infeasibly narrow turnstiles may have been erected at the same time: with spectators kept thin by wartime rationing, the builders could hardly have imagined just how large people would become in later years.

We had a couple of not-quite-new faces - Daniel Flood, who had played in the previous two games ...

Daniel Flood

... and Andy Harper, a product of our youth team, making his first competitive start, having been on the bench in the previous game.

Andy Harper

Ciaran Gibson was back in goal, which made my life easier, his playing style and confident demeanour makes him easier to capture than many goalkeepers.

Ciaran Gibson

The Met Office had predicted heavy rain for about 4pm, which would have been the second half had the game not kicked off early because of storm damage to the floodlights. In the event the damage appeared to have been repaired, as the lights were turned on for most of the game, but, having brought the game forward, it was sensible to stick to the rearranged time.

The rain fell quite heavily with a side wind in the first half, when we were attacking the Mart Lane end, which does not have any cover. The rain cover for the camera was blowing about, and at one point I ended up with it over my head in the manner of the user of a large format camera. I was happy with the performance of Mr Barbour's wax topping up the coating of my jacket, and with the rain effects on the photos.

James Edgar

The scores remained level until about 5 minutes into the second half, when Jack Phillips was brought down for a penalty, converted by Neil Prince. We had our best chance for the elusive second goal a few minutes later when Neil took a free kick on the edge of the area, which hit the upright - a knot or two less wind and it would probably have gone in.

Neil Prince

The hosts equalised 10 minutes from the end, but stout defence ensured we still went away with a point.

After the game, it was back to the Hop Vine to discuss important matters, namely trying to persuade Luke that his family home in Radcliffe is in historic Lancashire, of which the southern boundary is the River Mersey. He was not convinced, even by Lancashire playing cricket at Old Trafford (even if not doing so might mean less games when a winning position is lost due to rain). Things are different elsewhere, despite London having had administration across historic boundaries since 1888, the cricket followers at Dulwich Hamlet have no difficulty knowing whether they are from Surrey's broad sunlit uplands or Kent's Slough of Despond.

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

Final score: Burscough 1, Prescot Cables 1 (Prince pen)

The shortest daylight

Prescot Cables' game at home to Curzon Ashton the weekend before last was the one for which we have the shortest amount of natural daylight. I am not sure why, but although the day with the shortest time between sunrise and sunset is 21st December, the sunset starts to get later from about the 14th, and the sunrise does not start to get earlier until the beginning of January. I thought it might be something to do with longitude, but it happens on the Greenwich Meridian too.

At this time of year, the cloud makes as much difference to the lighting as the sunset, a bright day can probably be worth about half an hour's extra natural light, and this was anything but a bright day.

Isaac Kusoloka

We cannot see very well from the pictures, but Curzon Ashton's kit was a particularly unreflective shade of blue - it looks a lot brighter with lighting enhanced in the final images, but I suspect it had some effect on the exposures. The floodlights were turned on about 20 minutes into the game.

The game saw a return to action for Dave Dempsey.

Dave Dempsey

Dave was participating in Movember, and unlike many participants looks like he has decided to retain a hirsute appearance: I am surprised more people do not, it has after all the advantage of keeping your face warm. Not that the weather has been particularly cold so far this season, I would have expected to have had at least a couple of matches postponed due to frozen pitches by this stage. The rain also seems to have fallen in manageable quantities, we have only had one game postponed, and that was an unexpected pre match downpour at Ramsbottom.

The first half ended with Curzon Ashton 2-1 ahead with our goal having come from Isaac Kusoloka. With the lighting indistinguishable from an evening game for the second half, we drew level again with a goal from Phil Bannister.

Phil Bannister shoots for goal

When you are busily engaged in looking at details, you can easily lose sight of the bigger picture, and with a strong wind making the running and passing that make for good pictures difficult, the goal somehow did not fully register, and I was thinking we were still a goal behind, and when Curzon Ashton went a goal ahead I thought they had put the game out of reach, whereas our team were putting in a superb effort to try and gain another goal.

The game also saw a welcome return from injury by Connor McCarthy, who came on as a second half substitute.

Curzon Ashton goalkeeper David Carnell gathers from Connor McCarthy

After the game, it was off to drop my kit off at home and then in to town for the Cables Train Crew Christmas Dinner. Naturally there was only one way to get there ... er ... by bus.

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

Final score: Prescot Cables 2 (Kusoloka, Bannister) Curzon Ashton 3

Watch the water roll down the drain

Features of life in a northern town, particularly in the West Riding, include hills and somewhat inclement weather. The Met Office app had been predicting dry weather, with the possibility of a little sun, for Prescot Cables' visit to Ossett Town. I was less convinced when I got to Huddersfield to change trains in heavy rain, but the hills can often trap weather, with something completely different on the other side. This seemed borne out on arrival in Dewsbury, with the sky looking considerably lighter and drier above the hills between there and Ossett.

Rob Doran, scorer of Prescot's goal

Our train crew was depleted by staff shortages, with only me making the journey by rail. Fortunately, Richie, our leader in beer and pub choices, still led in this aspect, as he had posted what was to be our planned pub online, the Leggers Inn. It seemed a shame to waste the recommendation, so I took some refreshment before catching the bus to Ossett.

At the ground the promise of dry weather had not been entirely fulfilled, as there was a downpour shortly before I arrived, which caused concern for a couple of areas of the pitch. Fortunately, most of the water indeed rolled down the drain (with assistance from some of the club officials), allowing the referee to pass it as fit, even without a trip to the B&Q opposite for a bag of sand.

The cheerful young gentlemen running the tea bar seemed aware of the hazard that not many people will purchase, wiping out any profits with wasted stock. Orders for a burger resulted in one being taken out of the freezer, and therefore a wait for the finished product. However, they had some chips on the go, so I ordered a portion, with some pleasantly fruity curry sauce.

Fortunately we were attacking the bus station end in the first half, so I could take advantage of the seats whilst the light was good enough for pictures from behind the goal. This provides a good low camera position, and the chance to eat my chips between attacks (remember - food before photos).

Jordan Shirley

The low angle works well for close up shots too, providing I avoid getting the perimeter fence in view.

Isaac Kusoloka

Despite being in position for some good pictures, Mr Google thought one could do with improvement. Here is James McCulloch going for a header.

An automated process called Google Awesome thought it might be better with some snow.

"Awesome" was probably not the word I would have chosen. Besides, if I want pictures of our players performing in precipitation, I have chances to get them myself.

The floodlights augmented the natural light for most of the first half, and, as usual, for the second it was a case of finding the location with the best light, which seemed to be the side. Ossett have a pylon on each corner and one on each end of the half way line, with 5 heads on each, although the situation was complicated by some bulbs being out: I suspect it is quite difficult to change them, as the pylons do not fold down, and four of them are mobile phone masts (as this is Yorkshire, I hope one is from EE).

Given the good location in the first half and the complexities of lighting in the second, the final collection was more weighted towards the first than usual, with only 11 frames (of 60, if you do not count the snow scene) making it in from the second.

Sean Breen

When in Ossett, it is rude not to visit the Brewery Tap, so I adjourned there after the match to warm up in front of their wood fire, and for a pint of Ossett Brewery's Nervous Turkey. Most seasonal beers for December are dark winter warmers, but this is a light beer, just right to go with the industrial quantities of white meat one usually finds oneself eating at this time of year.

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

Final score: Ossett Town 2 Prescot Cables 1 (Doran)

Is there a Doctor in the house?

The match sponsorship for Prescot Cables' game at home to Warrington Town at the weekend was paid for by staff and students from the University of Liverpool Pharmacology Department in the name of regular supporter Phil, an energetic recruiter of new spectators, who has successfully completed his PhD. These pages are a stickler for etiquette, so we can only start calling him Dr Phil when he has donned the robes and shaken hands with the Chancellor. For the same reason, I shall refrain until then from asking him to take a look at my dodgy knee.

In these times, people are a bit concerned about mentioning pharmacology and sport in the same sentence, but we need not be worried. Phil has shown synopses of a couple of his papers online, and they seem to be, as far as I understood a word, about pharmacological markers for alcohol induced liver damage, not so much performance enhancing, as coping with the end of season party.

Our match sponsor (in bar scarf) watches Jack Webb

A match against Warrington Town is always a good one to sponsor, with a keen local rivalry, especially as it was their first visit to Hope Street since our former manager, Shaun Reid, left after 8 games in charge to take Warrington into the Football League.

Shaun Reid in characteristic pose

Shaun Reid's brother, Peter Reid was also in the crowd. Richie, our leader on pub and beer choices for away games, asked Peter to tweet that he was going to be at Prescot Cables in the way he does when he visits better known locations. He kindly did so, resulting in at least one enquiry from a family about admission prices.

Also in the crowd was the star of last season's Liverpool Senior Cup heroics, and scorer of some useful league goals, Steven Tames, playing in the same colours, but now with Southport, whose game away to Braintree Town had been postponed.

Steven Tames (in grey) and Dave Powell watch Jon Bathurst in action

This was always going to be a competitive game with honour at stake, Warrington wanting a win to keep their play off challenge on track, Prescot wanting to take at least a point from our former manager, and all points are useful to keep us ahead of Goole, Garforth and Ossett Albion.

As this post has a study theme, I can record that I arrived in Liverpool for that purpose many years ago, and have remained ever since. One of our new players, Enzo Benn, has followed at least the first part of that path, having come from Brighton, where he played along the coast for Worthing, initially playing for Cammell Laird before joining us.

Enzo Benn

The first half was played in sunlight, with the usual challenges that the low winter sun provides. The cloud came over for the second half, making for a much more even light. As I was able to take my usual position behind the goal, so when the Prescot goal came, I was in a good position to capture Liam Dawson scoring it. I had a choice of two images to send in to the Merseymart.

I chose the first one, as it shows better that Liam scored the goal under pressure from the Warrington defender, and there is less open space, which does not look good on the printed page.

As it was, they had a space to fill that would not have taken the portrait format, so they used this one of Luke Edwards instead.

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

Rush goalie

When I was at junior school, we would often agree, or the teacher would tell us, that the goalkeeper in a game of football was to be "rush", allowed to roam outfield to play, or "stick", remaining in a settled position between the posts or jumpers. Such a distinction is unknown in the Laws of Association Football, any goalkeeper may have a Jimmy Glass moment. Most remain firmly in place, and their clothing has reflected this by being warmer than that of the other players, from the woollen jerseys and flat caps of an earlier era to today's modern fabrics.

I suspect that when Garforth Town's goalkeeper Chris Senior had an age in single figures, he had a preference for rush, which he seems to have sustained into adult life, as he took a number of forays some distance outside his area. He was cutting it fine releasing the ball at the edge of the area as well, with some encouragement from the crowd to the assistant referee to keep an eye in case he overstepped.

Garforth's Chris Senior gets involved in the outfield with Ryan Grattan and Marlin Piana

Having had games postponed due to the weather, having missed a game due to what I thought the weather would be, and games mainly under overcast skies, it was welcome to have some sunshine. Low winter sun makes it almost impossible to take pictures behind the goal at the Safari Park End. The hood takes care of surplus light falling on the lens, but even wearing a cap, the glare means I cannot see much that is going on through the viewfinder. So, I beat a retreat to the sidelines.

Ryan Grattan approaches Chris Senior in a more conventional position

Even the photo on the back page of the Merseymart looked brighter than for a few weeks - they used this one of Cables' goal scorer, Luke Edwards, although the text went over the Garforth player on the right (numbers on the front of shirts, you know it makes sense).

Luke Edwards

Not many clubs have ball boys at this level, so we do not have the contretemps seen at Swansea a couple of weeks ago, although I was watching Dulwich Hamlet in a cup game at the then Lymington & New Milton a few years ago when the home goalkeeper came flying across the pitch perimeter fence and pushed one of our supporters to the ground in his rush to retrieve the ball for a goal kick. Sometimes people can be a bit too helpful returning the ball to the pitch without noticing play has restarted with another one.

Ged Murphy deals with the unwanted ball whilst Dave Dempsey plays the proper one

The clear sky and sunset about 5 minutes after the end of the game meant that, to my surprise, we completed the game in natural light, 2 weeks earlier than the first game to do so last season. Some referees would have asked for the lights to be switched on for the last few minutes, but by the time they warmed up to full intensity, the game would have finished. Also, the light was better than an evening game under lights, I was getting good results at 1/250s right to the end, which is not usually the case in the evening.

Jon Bathurst returns from injury

With a much needed 3 points from the game, the only disappointment was the crowd. At 97, this was the first crowd below 100 we have had at home both this season and last.

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