If Northwich Vics' win over Farnborough was emphatic, then their defeat against bottom-placed Woking was equally convincing.

Behind after 35 seconds and three down by the break, they rarely looked like beating a side with only one win in 11 previous league games.

Vics fought bravely in the opening period but after the break they were shapeless, lifeless and finished the game pointless, trudging off to a chorus of boos from the fans that had backed them so convincingly just seven days before.

As surprising as their muted performance was the fact that Phil Wilson chose not to shake things up in an appalling second half display.

His substitutes stayed on the bench as the players on the field struggled to penetrate the visitors' solid back four.

Lethargic at the back, without width in midfield and unable to hold the ball up in attack, only Steve Walters and Val Owen came out of the game with any real credit battling bravely in a congested midfield.

Walters' momentum almost forced a goal when Vics were only one down, the evergreen Laurence Batty clawing the ball away from under his bar.

Batty was beaten after 25 minutes, but was relieved to see Walters' effort bounce off the bar.

Val Owen also went close, hitting the post a minute before the break.

But almost straight away, Woking scored their third - effectively ending the game as a contest.

The damage was done by Steve West, a bustling centre-forward who was only taken off the transfer list last week.

He hit all three of his side's goals, thanks to some fine work from Danny Bolt on the Woking left.

Bolt created the opening two goals. He set up the first with an inswinging corner, which found his colleague unmarked six yards out and the second with a low, curling centre which rounded off the best move of the match.

West sealed his hat-trick on the stroke of half-time with a low drive, which Greygoose might have saved, after Scott Steele's persistence caused the ball to squirm away from a trio of players and run along the edge of the box.

West almost scored a fourth midway through the second period but was thwarted by an outstanding block from Greygoose after latching onto Owen's scuffed clearance.

Vics' only efforts in the second half came from Mark Birch, who rifled in a 30 yard drive which fizzed past the post and Paul Tait, who glanced a header over the bar.

But with no change in personnel, Vics rarely looked like changing the scoreline.

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