Pete Tonge gives the lowdown on Northwich Victoria's 3-1 defeat against manager Steve Wilkes' former club Padiham at the Ruby Civil Arena...

VICS got exactly what they deserved….absolutely nothing.

Padiham got off to the better start in blustery conditions as they took the lead in the ninth minute.

One pass cut through the Vics defence and Adekoya slotted the ball past Cheetham.

Three minutes later, one of four ex-Trickies in the Padiham team, Joel Brownhill, found space in the box, but his shot was weak and straight at Cheetham.

Padiham then hit the post as Vics were struggling to get into the match, but they did so a couple of minutes later, as first Birchall’s shot from eight yards was well saved by Hamnett in the Padiham net, but the rebound fell to Luke Sephton, whose effort struck the left post and rebounded out to Ash Dunn whose angled shot beat two defenders on the line to restore parity.

A minute later, a good through ball found Brownhill free on goal, but Vics were indebted to a great sliding tackle by Roman Allen to deny him the opportunity to shoot.

The match had settled down now, only enlivened by a brief set to between Misambo and Mark Ayres during a rare Vics attack which earned them both a yellow card.

The half ended with Padiham winning a corner which was floated in and headed against the crossbar.

With the change of ends, Vics now had the wind, and the slope, in their favour, but they failed to adapt to the conditions, and in all truth, didn’t seem up to the battle as Padiham were in total control winning all the second ball and challenges.

However, it was Vics who did create the first chance of the second half as Ryan Winder picked out Birchall who laid the ball off to Luke Sephton whose first time effort was well wide.

Three minutes later, Camozzi superbly found Sephton but his powerful shot was well stopped by Hamnett.

That was as good as it got for Vics though as in the 63rd minute, a good run down the right by Dom Craig led to a near post cross where Joel Brownhill beat Cheetham to the ball to head home from one yard.

It was only a matter of time until Padiham scored their third as in the 79th minute Disney-Ridge poked the ball home at the second time of asking to give Padiham a convincing win.

MATCH FACTS:

Vics: Cheetham, Camozzi , Barski, Misambo ( Lynch 73’), Allen, Owen ( Bembo-Leta 46’)), Winder ( Jackson 74’)) Dunn, Clarke, Sephton, Birchall Un-used subs’ - Butterworth, Mather.

GOALS: Ashton Athletic: Adekoya 9’, Brownhill 63’, Disney-Ridge 83'. Vics: Dunn 17'

Vics are away to Longridge on Wednesday, kick-off 7.45pm, and then host Congleton Town on Saturday, 3pm.