STEVE Wilkes admits Northwich Victoria’s players needed a reminder of his game-plan during the interval of a Boxing Day meeting with Barnton.

The message got through, and Vics scored three times after the break to register a comfortable 4-0 win.

“Our second-half performance was one of our best since I came to the club,” said the manager.

“I was annoyed with the lads at half-time; they hadn’t played the way we’d asked them and if we’re honest then Barnton could – perhaps should – have scored twice.

“After that we passed the ball better, and moved it forward more quickly.

“We got it into wide positions from where we knew we could hurt Barnton, and in the end we might have gone on to get more goals.”

Brian Matthews scored his second hat-trick of the campaign, increasing his goal-tally to 23 in all competitions, in a victory that propelled his side into the North West Counties League Premier Division table’s top 10.

They also ended a run of 13 matches without a clean-sheet.

Wilkes added: “I’m pleased for Brian; his goals had dried up slightly, and he’d started to snatch at chances when they came along.

“He’s put that behind him now though.

“I was happy as well to stop them scoring past us; we’ve been working hard on the training pitch to put that right and, with a bit of luck, we managed to do it.”