Northwich Victoria v Congleton Town FC: 21st October 2017: NWCFL Premier

DATE - Saturday 21st October 2017. COMPETITION - North West Counties Premier Division. VENUE - Townfield Stadium, Barnton, Northwich.

LINE-UP'S -
VICS' - Donlon, Grant, Weston (C), Lawrence, Johnson (caution), Willis, Fitton (caution) (McDonnell 86'), Bickett, Gorman, Matthews (Gyimah 75'), Durnin (Marshall 88'). Un-used subs' - Pollard, Dale.

CONGLETON - Jones, Martin, Morris, Peters (C), Cavanagh (Hasler-Cregg 61'), Stephens, Hibbert (Ford 65'), Carey, Adegbenro (caution), Foster, Fletcher. Un-used subs' - Hill, Johnson, Pritchard.

GOALS - Vics' - Brian Matthews 39', Sam Fitton 40', Johnny Gorman 73'. Congleton Town - Steve Foster 83', Thomas Morris 89'.

Unavailable for Vics' - Reece Lyndon (thigh), Anthony Shinks (knee), John Bennett (illness).

Vics' M.O.M - Samuel Fitton. A midfield masterclass from the diminutive schemer. Linked up the midfield to attack with precision and style. Also a tireless worker and capped it off with a fine finish just before half-time.

Report-

The match kicked-off in driving rain at Townfield and this made for a scrappy opening thirty minutes of the game, the wind playing havoc with the ball. The only chances of note were a long-range strike by Vics' midfielder Sam Fitton which only just cleared the cross-bar on 12' and on 29' Town striker Emini Adegbenro fired a low shot straight at Vics' glove-man Mike Donlon after racing clear of the home defence. Vics' took the lead on 39' when Oscar Durnin's fine deep cross from the left picked out Brian Matthews at the corner of the six yard box and he steered in a fine header across the keeper' and into the far corner of the net. Straight from the re-start, Vics' doubled the lead when goal-scorer Matthews twisted and turned at the edge of the box and he played Sam Fitton into space who immediately drilled in a low right-foot shot from eight yards out past the helpless keeper' Andrew Jones.

HALF-TIME - Vics' 2-0 Congleton Town.

The second half's opening quarter was much like the firsts' opening, scrappy play at times as the wind picked up somewhat. On 65' Town's Steve Foster sent a header just wide from eight yards after meeting Declan Fletcher's hanging cross from the right. Johnny Gorman put Vics' in total control on 73' when his low left-foot shot from twelve yards on an angle squirmed through the keepers' hand low down at the foot of his near post. Jones should have done better but the Green and Whites' were not in a sympathetic mood as they then looked good for a fourth goal, attacking the Bears' at will in the closing quarter. Steve Foster reduced the arrears on 83' in a rare sortie when a corner picked out an un-marked Steve Foster who drilled a left-foot volley into the roof of the net and give his side a glimmer of hope. That hope was raised further on 89' when centre-back Thomas Morris bundled home a loose ball from two yards out after a deep corner was played into the six yard box. It was a nervy five minutes or so for the Vics' in injury time but they held out for an important three points and back-to-back league wins for the first time since the opening two games of the season back in August.

FULL-TIME - Vics' 3-2 Congleton Town

Manager Steve Wilkes' verdict on the win -

Another good performance all round, Steve. Town got back into it in the last ten minutes with the two goals but the lads were out on their feet with the heavy pitch a contributing factor.

Yes Jamie - I think considering the conditions the lads have put in a tremendous shift. Wind is the hardest condition any footballer can encounter and we've had it twice in our last two games. I thought in the first half we played some very good football considering the wind and rain. I said to the players at half-time, the first ten minutes in the second half would be very important, because if we kept a clean sheet; then they'd have to start to take chances come the seventieth minute and that's exactly what happened and Jonny Gorman scored the third. The last ten minutes they had five forwards on the pitch and it was a case of just trying to dig deep and protect our goal. Unfortunately we didn't manage to do that, but we got across the line with a fantastic effort from all fourteen players who featured. We're not getting carried away with the three victories in a week, but we're starting to see and feel a good buzz around the club, which is a testament to how hard the players have worked recently.

Up next For Vics' is the Mid-Cheshire District F.A Challenge Cup quarter final Vs Barnton at Townfield Stadium, Northwich on Wednesday 25th October- K.O 19:45.

Match report & interview by Jamie Dewsbury.