Hednesford Town 7 Northwich Vics 1

Nationwide Conference

Saturday, Spetmeber 2

THE old cliche "it was a game of two halves" has never been more relevant as Vics played Hednesford off the park in the first half and then crashed to an humiliating defeat in the second.

Vics took total control in the opening period to give none of the 800 crowd any idea of the drama which was to follow, and took the lead after a spell of pressure in the 16th minute.

It was from a third consecutive corner when Wes Simpson, deputising for the suspended Mark Bailey, latched on to another weak headed clearance from Colin Rose's kick and hit a looping shot into the right hand corner of the net from 20 yards.

Only a superb fingertip save by Mark Gayle from a rasping 20-yard shot from Gary Fletcher prevented Vics from increasing their lead as Town looked like the ones who were about to receive a hammering.

Two mistakes by former Everton full back Neil Poynton almost led to goals for John Robertson and Fletcher and, with Gayle then having to save from Fletcher and Devlin, how Vics could have done with a second - and more!

They had been outstanding in the first 45 minutes, but the only niggling doubt was that, having had the wind and the slope to their advantage, they had failed to kill off the opposition. This was to prove all too true!

It took Hednesford just nine minutes into the second half to change the face of the game when Robinson flicked on a right wing cross from Bagnall and Mark Cooper's low shot beat Key at the near post.

We've all heard of floodgates opening, but here they completely capsized and allowed Hednesford a stream of strikes.

They went on to score a further four goals in the next 16 minutes as Vics visibly wilted. Cooper gave them an unlikely lead when he shot hard and low into into the bottom corner of the net and then a right wing free-kick left Stuart Lake with a free header.

Richard Norris needlessly gave the ball away on the edge of the Vics penalty area. Scott Goodwin spotted Lance Key off his line before hitting a delightful chip from 20 yards to effectively seal Vics' fate.

Rattled and bemused, the Vics defence was looking vulnerable and when Robertson failed to cut out a long high ball in the box Mike Norbury was left clear on goal.

What appeared to be a fair tackle by Steve Davis was ruled a foul and the Vics defender was shown the red card. Cooper stepped up to register the first hat-trick by a Hednesford player in the Conference.

Other than a good shot from Rose which had the home keeper at full stretch, Vics were losing spirit and giving the ball away all too easily.

Three minutes from the end, the Vics offside trap again failed miserably and when substitute Jake Sedgemore was left clear on goal he made no such mistake.

Hednesford's seventh came in injury time. Yet another long ball over the top found Norbury in the clear and he beat the helpless Key to round off the trouncing.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.