Northwich Victoria 5 Farsley 1

NORTHWICH Victoria tightened their grip on a promotion play-offs place following a comfortable victory over 10-man Farsley on Saturday.

Their hopes of winning the title had been hit by a 1-0 defeat to fellow hopefuls Darlington at Flixton in midweek, but goals from Josh Amis, Gary Burnett, Richie Bennett and an Iain Howard double saw Jim Gannon’s side return to third position at the weekend.

And the manager was full of praise afterwards for midfielder Howard, who started the season at Witton Albion.

“Iain certainly had a major influence on the play and he took his goals with such great skill and control,” said Gannon.

“His passing and set-pieces were also very good.

"Unfortunately he aggravated a neck injury when scoring his great overhead kick for the third goal, so we withdrew him as a precaution.

“With games coming thick and fast we certainly need to manage the players wisely to ensure that we are operating at optimum levels.”

Farsley goalkeeper Tom Taylor brought down Burnett after 12 minutes, earning the keeper a red card, and Amis stepped up to beat substitute Jake Lofthouse from the resulting penalty.

Howard doubled Vics’ lead when he hit a volley over Lofthouse from inside the box, but the visitors replied before the break when Lewis Nightingale converted a spot kick.

Vics regained control after an hour when Howard added his second with a bicycle kick, completing the route when Burnett added his 20th goal of the season before Bennett finished from close range.

Vics Deasy (GK), Ali, Grayson, Clarke, Henry, Meadowcroft, Fishwick (Sanogo 50), Cook, Burnett, Amis (Bennett 34), Howard (Roddy 81) Subs not used Smith (GK), Smallley Attendance 102