Northwich Vics 1 Yeovil Twn 2

Nationwide Conference

Saturday, December 14

IF Yeovil are setting the standards for others in the Conference to follow this season then Vics are certainly not lagging behind.

In fact, they matched the leaders in every department except the most vital - the scoreline - in Saturday's pulsating Wincham Park encounter.

Vics deserved a point and perhaps should have snatched it with a stirring late fightback but it was in the first 45 minutes when the game was won and lost.

Jimmy Quinn played himself in a back five, a formation that seemed unlikely in the absence of suspended centre halves Shaun Came and Denny Ingram Although Quinn marshalled the back line excellently, the tactic left them a little short of numbers at the other end. Gregg Blundell and Jonny Allan kept having to drift out wide, where they often looked up to see a penalty area devoid of green shirts, and although Vics kept the ball well, it mostly travelled away from the Yeovil goal.

So it wasn't until they were past the point of caution later in the game that Northwich took the game to their visitors who, in truth, were a little flattered by their 2-0 lead.

They didn't look their usual selves, and not just because they had to wear Vics' light blue shorts to avoid a clash - how they found a pair to fit midfield waifs Lee Johnson and Darren Way is anyone's guess. And it was out of the blue that they took a 21st minute lead when lightning left winger Michael McIndoe flashed a cross-shot into the far corner past a bemused and stationary Matthew Parry.

Vics' only attempts on goal, all two of them, in the first half came from outside the box and on the stroke of half-time Yeovil doubled their lead when Kirk Jackson got his head to Nick Crittenden's cross and Parry could only palm the yellow ball into the net.

Colin Pluck could have finished it all off when he hit the bar from a corner for the second time in the 50th minute but Vics found a lifeline with 25 minutes left.

Richie Norris crossed from the right and Mark Devlin found himself in alien territory, free at the far post to head in his first goal since August.

It only took three minutes for the real golden chance to equalize arrived when the slickest passing move of the match left Val Owen clear, but he went for Chris Weale's near post and fired wide.

Blundell diverted Roy O'Brien's weak back header narrowly wide and Weale also had to save form Devlin as Vics, spurred on by Quinn's presence in the a more familiar forward role, pushed hard for a point.

But their challenge was all but snuffed out by referee Mariner in the final minute when Chris Royle barged Andy Lindegaard in the back and looked as stunned as the majority of the crowd to receive a striaght red card.

Vics: Parry, Royler, Walsh (Taylor 45), Quinn, Sedgemore, Rioch, Devlin, Owen, Blundell, Allan (Griggs 80), Norris. Subs not used: Garvey, Connett, Teather. Attendance; 691. Star man: Jimmy Quinn.