Did you get the goal?

Prescot Cables' game against Ossett Albion was preceded by a minute's applause for Dennis Bellairs, who had been volunteering for the club for the best part of 50 years, and who died before Christmas. The simplest way to describe his activity was to say he did whatever needed doing: ranging from organising working parties for ground maintenance, through managing the kit, to serving in a number of board positions, including club secretary.

James McCulloch carrying the floral tribute to Dennis Bellairs

Dennis was photographing for the club when I started, and there are examples of his work on display in the board room. Unlike those of us who have only worked in digital, he understood the economy of film: looking for one or two images in a game, he developed an eye for a goal. Knowing I have not always managed to emulate that, he often asked at half time, "Did you get the goal?". He had a wicked sense of humour, and was not above asking the question when there had been no goals, enjoying my slightly confused look - asking just often enough to get me every time.

I had arrived early, to take pictures of the newer players for the website. Some were in their red training tops, rather than the black and yellow, but Dennis warned me when I first took the team photo that if I could get the players to stand still for long enough to take their pictures, I should regard it as a result.

Valter Fernandes

I captured everyone who had played already, but missed one new starter.

James Doyle

The same problem of getting everyone standing still comes with the mascots (today from Belle Valle JFC Under 8s, coached by Andy Scarisbrick) lining up with the players for the handshakes before the game. I aim to provide a souvenir photo for the children and their parents. The last players are often still lining up as the first is shaking hands with the referee.

Andy Scarisbrick

This was a game we needed to win - whilst it is good to surprise top teams by depriving them of what some may have thought was an easy win, league survival will come from doing better against the teams around us than they do against us. I did not have to wait long for a goal, with Chris Almond scoring after five minutes.

We put the game to bed in the few minutes before half time, starting with a goal from Dominic Marie.

When I uploaded to Google Photos, I spotted an issue with sorting - when two pictures have the same timestamp (in whole seconds), it displays them in the order they were uploaded. This is the opposite to that in which you select them, so the sequence above was displayed with the second and third pictures the wrong way round.

Another goal from Chris Almond, taking advantage of Ossett's Brett Souter dropping the ball on the edge of the penalty area, ...

Chris Almond watches his shot go past a stranded Brett Souter

... and another from Dominic Marie made for a decisive finish to the half.

The second half was more evenly matched, but we were still looking for goals, and, with the league as tight as it is, the more we score the better.

Taking the player pictures before the game, I had to ask one for his name (whatever happened to being introduced?). If there is one thing that helps me to remember, it is a goal, and Dominic Reid duly obliged.

Dominic Reid

Some visitors were already thinking of being back home in the warm in Yorkshire.

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

There are also video highlights here. in a new venture from the league website. The limited training provided meant Glyn the camera operator was going live on his first attempt - when I started taking pictures, I took at least 6 months before I let the results loose on the public.

Final score: Prescot Cables 5 (Almond 2, Marie 2, Reid) Ossett Albion 0