COMPETITION : Midland League Premier Division
DATE - Saturday 5th April 2025
VENUE - Acoustafoam Stadium, Shifnal

LINE-UP Vics’ -
Prior, Sutton, Gardiner, Farnworth, Barlow, Hurst, Gamble (Knight C 69’), Hayder (Argent-Barnes 62’), Lloyd, Nyamwanzi (Burey 57’), Crane (Knight L 84’)

Goals : Shifnal Town : FitzGerald 28’ (Pen), Jarman 67’
Northwich Vics : Crane 34’

Vics showed plenty of determination, and more than matched 2nd placed Shifnal Town for a lot of this match but just didn’t quite have the quality of the final ball upfront.
The match started quietly with both sides probing each other out with Will Lloyd for Vics looking to be the most likely source to make something happen. Vics had a claim for a penalty in the 18th minute as Lloyd drove into the area and looked to have been tripped but the referee waved play on whilst 4 minutes later, it was Lloyd again who did well on the left, beat his man and pulled the ball back to Ali Hayder whose shot didn’t have enough on it to cause too many problems for the Shifnal keeper. At the other end, Prior was called into action making a great double save in the 26th minute, firstly from a shot coming in from the right then bravely smothering the effort from the rebound. However Shifnal went ahead a minute later as they were awarded a penalty for an unfortunate handball in the area by Archie Gardiner as he went to clear the ball. Sam FitzGerald duly sent Prior the wrong way to give Town the lead.
Shifnal then should have extended their lead as a ball across the box to the far post fell to one of their players who somehow managed to sky the ball over the bar from virtually from the goal-line. Vics quickly made them pay for this miss as Simba Nyamwansi drove towards the box and played it into Ben Crane who superbly wrong footed his man and slotted the ball into the back of the net.

HALF-TIME : Shifnal Town 1 Northwich Vics 1

The second half was mainly Shifnal pushing forward as they looked to cement home advantage in the play-offs. They could have gone ahead in the 50th minute as their was pinball in the Vics’ box but the ball was eventually hacked away. Zac Prior then saved well from a Jarman shot. Town took the lead in the 68th minute as a free kick from the halfway line was headed at goal, Prior blocked it well but Jarman put the rebound into the net.
Vics battled hard but the closest they got to an equaliser was late on as substitute Matty Argent-Barnes sent a peach of a cross into the area which just evaded the head of Lee Knight infront of goal.

FULL-TIME : Shifnal Town 2 Northwich Vics 1

Vics competed well but were lacking in a bit of quality in the final third without their two main strikers.

Next Matches :

Wednesday 9th April HOME v Atherstone Town 7.45pm (to be played at Runcorn Linnets Ground)
Saturday 12th April HOME v Wolverhampton Casuals 3.00pm ( to be played at Winsford United)