Prescot Cables 4v3 Radcliffe Borough
Evo-Stick League - First Division North
Saturday 28th September 2013
Liverpool is one of my favourite cities in the UK, but unfortunately I don’t get across to Merseyside as often as I‘d like to. The last time I was there was for Jimmy Jimmy’s 40th birthday in 2006, so I took the breadknife and the Smudgers down for a much belated visit, staying in Southport and spending Saturday in Beatleland.
As far as football was concerned I didn’t look for any particular fixtures, just the closest and most convenient club playing at home from Liverpool city centre. The team that had the privilege of my presence was Prescot, a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, approximately eight miles to the east of the city and just a short 20 minutes train journey from Lime Street.
The name is believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon preost "priest" + cot "cot", meaning a cottage inhabited by a priest i.e. "priest-cottage". During the 18th and 19th centuries it was a major player in the watch and clock making industry which is recognised by the local Wetherspoons pub - The Watchmaker, where I had a pre-match pint.
The primary employer in this part of Merseyside was British Insulated Wire Company which formed in 1890 before becoming BICC after merging with another company in 1945, before the site closed in the early 1990s.
The cable company is maybe one of the first examples of commercial sponsorship in football. Prescot FC formed in 1884 and made their debut in the FA Cup in 1891. The club was renamed when the directors of the Wire Works were invited to the opening ceremony of the revamped ground in 1928, after several more visits it was agreed to add the Cables suffix and donate the cost of a new stand. The club also changed the team colours to the Tiger combination as the first insulated cable drawn at the plant was covered with amber and black paper.
They changed their name to Prescot Town in the 1960’s and spent the following decade in the Mid Cheshire League and the Cheshire County League, winning titles in both divisions. In 1980 changed their name back again and became founder members of the North West Counties League in 1982, winning the championship in 2002-03 and promotion to the Northern Premier League. They lost out in the play-offs in their debut season after a fifth place finish, but are currently in the Division One North section after suffering relegation in 2009.
The club is now been owned by its fans with a football committee formed from the Supporter's Club, which took over the reins of the club in the summer of 2005.
The new stand was soon built in the classic design of this era, similar in design to those at Cheltenham and the old Christie Park at Morecambe. The stand has a built up seating area with the changing rooms and clubhouse found underneath. Access is gained via staircases at the sides and front, from the standing paddock below. Nowadays the stand is decked out in plastic flip seats in a range of different colours, which looks as if they’ve been giving leftovers from various old stands. There’s an excellent clubhouse which looks out onto the pitch, which has a large bar area, a club shop stall and Soccer Saturday on the TV.
The Hope Street end is fully terraced, forming a V-shape which is half covered and half open. The far side and top goal has a hard standing pathway with a built up grass bank which apparently you're not allowed to stand on, but that request is mostly ignored as its a good matchday viewpoint.
Hope Street is now known as Valerie Park and is shared with AFC Liverpool from the North West Counties League. The record attendance stands at 8,122 in a match with Ashton National in 1932 and has a capacity of 3,000, with approximately 500 seats.
Borough got themselves back into game on 56 minutes when a shot from Lambert was parried into the path of Chadwick for a tap in, but the home side responded immediately with a Mike Smith bullet header from close range.
With twenty minutes remaining the match turned on its head. Radcliffe equalised when a routine back pass saw ‘keeper Nick Culkin kick fresh air to allow Caldon Henson to slot home, then from the restart Cables instantly lost possession and the same play was allowed time and space to fire his team into a 3-2 lead.
Just as it was beginning to look as if the visitors were about to register a first league win of the season, a defensive mistake allowed Robert Doran to capitalise on a misjudged back-pass to make it all square. Then with time running out a cracking second half was rounded off with a peach of a strike from Enzo Benn firing in a first time effort from twenty-odd yards to make it a purr...fect result for The Tigers.
Cheers Liverpool, it was another good'un! I promise it wouldn’t be so long until our next visit!
PCFC 4(McCarthy 13 Smith 58 Doran 78 Benn 88) RBFC 3(Chadwick 57 Henson 71,72)
Att.175
Admission £7
Programme £2
Ground no.367 Valerie Park - Matchday web album (31 pictures)