Maxing the Dayrider

If a bus journey involves one operator, you can go a surprisingly long way for a small fare. A trip from Liverpool to Coppull United on Arriva buses cost the reasonable sum of £5.20. It is not the quickest journey, but many routes have WiFi, and there is nothing like knowing you have passed from one local authority to another by the rise or fall in the number of writing errors caused by bouncing over potholes.

A few years ago, I would not have made a trip like this, as getting timetables would have involved a lengthy call to an enquiry office. Large areas of the country should have had a "Here be dragons" sign on the map, as they were some distance from a train service. Haydock and Ashton in Makerfield rarely impinge on my consciousness, so I was surprised to find quite substantial settlements with a bus every few minutes. On arrival in Coppull, I made for the Co-Op. I cannot fault their prices at the end of the day: even if they sell items just before they go off for next to nothing, you save them the cost of taking unsold stock away, so I grabbed something to eat for loose change.

These pages do not follow televised sport, but I like a television transmitter in the background, in this case Winter Hill. Apparently it sends out different signals in four directions.

After an overcast day, the evening turned out bright and sunny. The sun was low in the sky, and if we had been playing towards the clubhouse I would have been looking straight into it. The sun and the trees that surround the ground gave a combination of shots well lit from the front, and some shadows.

Neil Prince

Danny Flood

Playing into the sun is not always good.

Ben Morrow

Phil Bannister made a welcome return.

The hosts had floodlights, which they turned on from the beginning of the evening. I think the main purpose of the lights is to illuminate training, the West Lancashire League do not have evening games in the winter. By the end of the game, the lights were making a similar impact to street lights.

Jonah O'Reilly

This game, and that on Tuesday at Charnock Richard, was at least in part to try out some "possibles". I did not attend the earlier game: by all reports I did not miss much, as the hosts won 5-0, a bit disconcerting given the difference in league position. This game was a much better performance, with a 3-1 win.

After the game, I had more cause to be glad of Phil Bannister's return, as his parents gave me a lift to Wigan, which, with the assistance of technology telling me where my bus would be and the driver finishing his cigarette, got me home half an hour earlier than I anticipated. These pages often record the 10A as a bus where all human life is there; however, the 352 put up some stiff competition: We were joined by two young ladies deep in conversation. Unfortunately, one was sitting at the front of the bus and the other at the back, and one had difficulty recalling she had travelled outside St Helens.

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

Final score: Coppull United 1 Prescot Cables 3.

Motoring through the traffic

Some feel that urban design is geared towards the car, to the extent it is difficult to navigate some towns on foot. However, places where roads long pre date the motor car can be equally difficult to traverse. Vauxhall Motors, Prescot Cables' hosts in our pre season game last weekend sounds like an urban industrial destination, but the club is in a rural location, separated from the eponymous car factory by the M53. The walk from the frequent Liverpool to Chester bus service is along a country lane without lighting (not a problem in the afternoon) or a pavement. I come from a village, so I am used to this, but there are a couple of stretches with right hand blind bends, requiring use of the generally avoided left side of the road, with your back to the traffic. The noise from the motorway makes it more difficult to hear whether there is a car approaching behind you.

I arrived, so I thought, a few minutes late, to find the players emerging from the changing rooms to warm up. I had been expecting a 2.30 kick off, but our kit was having its own motorway related travel problem, being stuck in traffic on the M56. Vauxhall lent us a spare kit.

Joe Evans & Jonah O'Reilly

I joined our Chairman to watch the players warming up, and we reminisced about the days one just emerged from the changing rooms and started to play. One exercise involved jumping up and starting to run from flat on your face, which might be useful playing one or two of our more robust opponents.

Once we were inside the ground, the pitch was in good condition, save for a need for some rain. It is aligned more or less east - west, so the sun was shining from one side. In the first half, the sun was hazy, with intermittent cloud cover, enough not to cause too many problems with shadows.

Paul Cliff

We have not got to the stage in the pre season programme of issuing team sheets, so if I want to add captions, I need to stick to players who are with us from last year or from previous seasons. I might be able to identify some from newly acquired Twitter followers, but I would not be sure enough to use them in a published post. The list of players returning continues to grow as people come back from holidays.

Ben Morrow

In the second half, I even got a goal sequence, from Danny Flood.

Once again we were able to secure the result league position might have suggested, with our scoring four goals in the second half to go with one in the first.

The return walk from the ground is slightly more hazardous than the journey out, as one of the right hand blind bends is alongside the motorway. I made it safely to the bus stop just in time for ... Ben Morrow and his father to pull up and offer me a lift.

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

Final score Vauxhall Motors 1 Prescot Cables 5.

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

Coming in to land

Prescot Cables' first game of pre season was at Runcorn Town, who play at the Pavilions, although there seemed to be just the one pavilion, an impressive structure.

I consulted Mr Google's maps to plan a route, about 20 minutes from the station. Looking at the Ordnance Survey map later, I realised that navigation apps identify the shortest horizontal route, but have nothing about vertical distance, something that may be of interest on foot. The recommended route was also the best in that regard, had I taken the second route on offer, I would have walked up one side of a hill and down the other. Passing a car park on the way, a group of bikers were relaxing around a trailer advertising itself as a mobile tattoo and piercing studio, but which seemed to be moonlighting by serving light refreshments in the evening.

Seeing the first evidence of a football pitch from the road, I wondered whether they would finish marking the pitch before the players had finished warming up.

I am not sure why this pitch had been abandoned, but there is a new ground behind the pavilion.

On arrival, I joined Jack Phillips and his brother Anthony (who Jack had persuaded to come along with the promise there are always loads of goals in pre season). Jack is currently training with Accrington Stanley, a well deserved opportunity, whether in the shape of a professional contract now, or keeping his name in the minds of professional clubs to keep watching him as he continues to develop.

In the meantime, there were other distractions. The ground is four or five miles from Liverpool Airport under the main easterly flight path. Having grown up three or four miles further from Gatwick, and had the famously noisy BAC 1-11 flying overhead since I was in my pram, I found it amusing when friends from not under the flight path would look up with an air of concern every five minutes as an aircraft thundered overhead. These happy times were recalled when it transpired Jack does exactly the same thing.

The main attraction of these games is to see who has returned from last season's team (non contract players are free agents until they sign registration forms) and to see if we recognise anyone trying out. For a midweek game at this time of year, we had a decent turnout, with about half the starting lineup having been with us at the end of last season.

James McCulloch

A few were trying out from the Reserves.

Sam Gifford

Also from last year's Reserves (and a couple of first team appearances), stepping up a league with the hosts, was Jack Hont.

Jack Hont

Pre season games enable us to get back into our physical routines. Even for lighter activities like photography, coordination becomes rusty when you have not done it for a few weeks. In your forties, the lens in the eye become less flexible. I am not sure whether, using a SLR camera, the eye is focusing at distance on the subject or close up on the prism on which it is projected. Either way, my eye muscles seemed to be out of practice, as I was not completely sure I was in focus for the first five minutes or so, after which everything felt normal, i.e. I could see perfectly through the viewfinder, but I did not stand a chance with the screen without taking my glasses off.

Representing the Train Crew, I was distracted by unloading operations at the chemical works next door. It was not until half time I could identify whether they had a mobile crane, or if the train was moving slowly forwards.

For the second half, I sat in the stand along one side of the pitch. The sun was out by now, with plenty of shadows cast by the stand and the trees behind it.

Joe Evans

Both teams seemed keen to play a game based on keeping possession, which meant I had more individual pictures of players than usual - the sort that have "profile picture" written all over them. Having said that, I tend to crop these pictures closely in portrait format, when I should probably be making them square.

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

Final score: Runcorn Town 2 Prescot Cables 0.

Roses in the sun

Last weekend saw Lancashire host Yorkshire in the rugby union County Championship for the Bill Beaumont Cup. The game was at Fylde: as 11 of the starting XV play there, it made sense. It is easy to get to, and this year the Blackpool South train had a couple of extra wagons, er, I mean carriages. Timetable changes made for a less convenient arrival time, but Fylde's excellent catering meant I could have lunch when I got there. I feel when attending rugby union that using the right cutlery matters, so the question is, should one eat the chilli with a fork or a spoon? A savoury dish suggests the former, but the latter will get the last of the rice from the polystyrene dish.

The Met Office app promised sunny intervals: the weather turned out better, with almost continuous sun.

Results earlier in the competition meant that the winner would go through to the final.

There was a good crowd, drawn by the weather and plenty of publicity. Oddly, Lancashire seemed only to start publicising the competition in earnest for the second game, against Durham: the first, at Chester, seemed very low key.

I took up position on the stand side, towards the end Lancashire were attacking, where I could look out from the shade. The hedge would have fallen foul of football ground grading authorities, who like the ground perimeter fence (they are not keen on hedges) to prevent viewing the game from outside the ground, and there were definite gaps. Not that I was planning to take pictures from the pavement.

These fixtures are robust affairs.

Penalty scores play a greater part in rugby union than in football or rugby league. Some attribute this to the points available for a penalty kick and a converted try. The points available may encourage a team to kick, but some suggest the points for a converted try may give an incentive to risk an infringement, sacrificing three points rather than a possible seven. A penalty try can also be given where an infringement prevents a try being scored. Yorkshire opened the scoring in this manner: Lancashire responded with a penalty kicked by Christopher Johnson.

In a game like this, there is always the risk of injury, and Chris was replaced shortly afterwards by Steve Collins.

A try from an individual run is good for a picture, this from Jordan Dorrington took Lancashire ahead just before half time.

I decided to stay put after half time, as it was the quietest part of the ground. With Lancashire, as is often the case, having the better of both possession and territory for the second half, my results were not as good as in the first, although I was close to some moves being built out of defence.

Further tries from Ryan de la Harpe and Chris Briers and another from Jordan Dorrington gave Lancashire a commanding lead. Jordan Dorrington was subsequently selected for the England Counties squad to tour Romania.

The game continued to keep the physios busy. Spare a thought for Yorkshire's replacement scrum half, Isaac Green, seen here watching Ryan de la Harpe putting the ball in to a scrum - within three or four minutes of coming on, he had to leave the field after an injury.

Lancashire's win took them to their seventh successive final. I did not realise I had been following the competition for that long: it seemed like only a couple of years ago seeing Yorkshire go through to the final at Harrogate and sitting opposite Alex Davies and James Doherty on the train back to Leeds - Alex and James went on to have successful careers at London Welsh and Cornish Pirates respectively.

After the game, I walked along the coast to Lytham. I say "coast", I think there was water between me and Southport. On arrival, I adjourned to the Taps. On an almost summer day, the Thistly Cross Whisky Cask Cider caught my eye. After this, the National Rail app suggested the train back to Preston left Blackpool South on time, but, on a single line branch, there are no signals to track progress, so I was twiddling my thumbs for 20 minutes and missed my connection. Northern Rail's Twitter feed was busy.

I, on the other hand, planned to catch a train, an actual train

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

Final score: Lancashire 29 (T Dorrington 2, de la Harpe, Briers; C Collins 3; P Johnson) Yorkshire 14

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

At least we did not need the points

There was a good turnout for Prescot Cables' final game of the season at Padiham, with the coach fully booked, eleven of us on our train with others following later. A couple of our party were making their first away trips, Dan, a regular attender at home games, and Thom, on placement from university in Nijmegen. Thom is working with Dr Jon, who thought that, in addition to places he plans to visit during his stay, such as London, Oxford and Cambridge, he might have an interesting experience if he were to visit somewhere less well known. Padiham is not well known even a short distance away: when we rang for taxis in Burnley, the person in the office claimed not to have heard of it.

Richie, our leader in beer and pub choices, was unable to join us, and would have disapproved of some of our beer, although the establishments in which we consumed them were pleasant enough. The entries on WhatPub were a bit dated: one pub was listed as serving cask ales, but looked as though it had lacked the facility to do so for some time. At least the Hare and Hounds had an excellent range.

The end of the season is a time for reflection, completing a journey that started being chewed by mosquitoes on a wet July day in Coppull. Neil Prince had to put together a team more or less from scratch over the summer. Not many from that day were still with us: Neil Prince himself, James McCulloch, starting a third century of appearances, and the reliable Joe Evans.

Joe Evans

Matty West has rejoined the side in the last few games.

Matty West

Sam Corlett deserves a mention too, he joined us in the second pre season game, and has been with us ever since.

Sam Corlett

We tried a couple of players from our excellent youth team, who did not falter when the call came later, with Ben Morrow being a fixture in goal for the last two months ...

Ben Morrow

... and Andy Harper making himself a first choice for his position since being called up to the first team over Christmas.

Andy Harper

We have had a young team: seven or eight games in I realised I had been watching the club since before most players on the pitch had been born. A substitute warming up at that first pre season game was among their number, although older than I first thought, having played in the Wigan Athletic Academy before being released in May last year.

Our first sight of Jack Phillips

I would not see him warming up very often again unless I arrived early, as he made an instant claim for a start, with a good line in nimbly outwitting much larger players.

Three quarters of those released by academies never play again, and many who try to carry on do not last very long. The transition from football as a full time occupation to combining it with work or education must be quite challenging: Jack has been one of the best I have seen at managing it. I have not talked to him his university course, but on the field he was the season's top scorer, and made a well deserved clean sweep of the Supporters', Manager's and Players' Player of the Year awards.

Jack sends a defender the other way

Amidst all this reminiscing, there was a game we were actually attending.

Er, not that one - that was the cricket next door. A six was not without its risks.

Howzat!

As for our game: we had secured what we needed, and the hosts were determined to leave the league on a high note, which they did, with a 4-0 win including a hat trick from former Cables player Daley Woods.

After the game, some left quickly to get back in time for the club's presentation evening. This included Dr Phil, which confused the remaining pharmacologists, who try not to leave one of their number behind on their travels.

A lot of us have an interest in more than one team, and life is easier if they do not play each other. At least our finishing clear of the relegation positions meant East Grinstead Town were not competing with Prescot for a reprieve from relegation. As for Dulwich Hamlet, the FA are still consulting the entrails regarding a points deduction for an ineligible player fielded by Enfield Town in January, which affects whether they finished in a play off place, resulting in Dulwich's semi final at Margate being postponed with less than 48 hours' notice.

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

Final score: Padiham 4 Prescot Cables 0.