Northwich Vics Reserves 5

Leek Town Reserves 0

Lancashire League

Saturday, December 23

FA Cup hero Ian Cooke returned to action for Vics Reserves just three days after his live TV exploits captured the nation's imagination.

It was a bit of a harsh return to reality for the striker, playing at Moss Farm against Leek Town Reserves with his goal in the 3-2 second round replay defeat at Leyton Orient fresh in the memory.

Cooke was outstanding in the first half of this comfortable win as a strong Vics side played their first league fixture since the end of October, including a number of players with first team experience.

One of them, Lee Poland, who also figured in front of the cameras at Leyton, was also in the side and stole the show with a hat-trick.

They pressed from the start and scored after 15 minutes when Michael Houghton beat his marker on the left to pull the ball back for Ian Carthy to sweep a left foot shot into the corner of the net.

Some good saves from Capper in the Leek goal kept the score down, but Houghton was again the supplier as Poland made it two on the half hour mark.

With five minutes of the half remaining, it was Poland again, this time receiving a free-kick from Peter Holcroft inside the box to take the ball in his stride and fire in with his left foot.

At the start of the second half, Cooke was replaced by Aiden Newhouse, who was to mark his first appearance in green with a goal.

However, he had to wait for Poland to complete his hat-trick when good play by James Birdsey allowed Jamie Bates to cross for the striker to score his third.

Houghton was again the provider as Newhouse finished off the rout with a header 10 minutes from the end of this one-sided game.

With all subs used, an eventful day for Houghton ended on a sad note when he limped off injured, leaving Vics down to 10 men in the remaining 15 minutes.

Vics: Allinson, Bates, Ellis, Carthy, Walsh, Boothby, Birdsey (Royle), Holcroft, Cooke (Newhouse), Poland (Capper), Houghton.