Vikings FC 0 - 3 1874 Northwich

The away side dominated the game from the first whistle as the home side suffered from a Christmas hangover. Stuart Wellstead opened the scoring after 2 minutes when his cross found the bottom right hand corner of goalkeeper Jack Earle’s goal. Things went from bad to worse for the Vikings keeper after he failed to clear a shot 2 minutes later. The rebounded shot fell nicely for Micheal Brandon who slotted the ball home comfortably into an empty net.

1874 Northwich manager Ian Street was delighted with his team’s performance and the start they made to the game and said “Goals change games in football, it was a good start, can’t knock it. Last week against Hanley we were 2-0 down. It set us of nice but it seemed to distract us. We took our foot of the gas after the first 10 or 15 minutes. We went away from the game plan.”

After the fiery start from the away side the game settled down as the half went on. The away side enjoyed most of the possession and their high pressure tactic made it difficult for the Vikings to break out. Earle was almost yet again caught out when Northwich’s number 9 tried to execute a lob which left the young keeper scrambling back towards goal.

The away aside continued to press for the killer goal after half time and came close when a Daley Woods cross found Brandon with the Northwich striker missing a sitter. Watched in front of a record crowd Stuart Wellstead finished off the scoring to secure a 3-0 away win for 1874 Northwich with a simple finish into the back of the net. Wellstead showed great composure and skill to take the ball past Earle to make it a day to forget for the Vikings.

Steve Hill made it clear after the match his frustration after conceding two early goals and said “Nightmare, I think he’s took Christmas to the next level and gave a nice little Christmas present out. The lads did well to stabilize themselves and it is difficult, we got to half time and felt we were still in the game.”