THE VICS COLUMN - Peter Tonge casts his eye over the first month of the new campaign

A NEW season - always an exciting time for football fans with new players to get excited about, new hopes and all the disappointments of last season forgotten.

Vics’ close season had been fairly quiet with the majority of last season’s squad having been maintained, with just a few new arrivals to strengthen the team.

Hopes (and ambitions) are high in the expectation that we can improve on our fourth place league finish last year.

So, after a fair to middling pre-season campaign, the season started on the 3rd August with the fixture list being kind to us with our first three matches all being at home.

We started against Whitchurch Alport, but the high hopes of a good start were somewhat dashed by conceding a last minute goal for a 1- 0 defeat.

However at this level, games come quick and fast and the chance to put things right came just 4 days later against Congleton Town who had come third last season.

A Ryan Winder goal gave us the points in a tight game.

Next up was a home FA Cup tie (Yes the FA Cup does start this early) against Silsden.

All was going well until a last minute penalty denied us a win, and took us to a long journey up to Silsden midweek for the replay.

A dramatic match ensued with Vics storming into a 3-0 lead within 33 minutes before Silsden fought back to level the match by the 63rd minute.

However, Vics grabbed a late winner to take us through to the next round. The drama of the FA Cup lives on.

On Saturday 17th, it was back to the league campaign and a welcome 2-0 victory against Skelmersdale United, with Joel Brownhill and new signing Tom Kilifin scoring in a five-minute spell early in the second half.

Another midweek fixture (Premiership players would need a rest by now) took us to Runcorn Town in the rain, where Vics spurned chances to take the lead before two goals in the second half gave Town the win.

Back to the FA Cup on Saturday 24th, and a crowd of 247 gathered at Wincham Park to see us take on higher league Prescot Cables.

Again chances spurned seemed to be our undoing as Cables snatched the lead in the 84th minute, but this was the Cup, and roared on by the Vics’ faithful, Tom Kilifin struck as the game entered injury time.

Another replay loomed, but that man Kilifin had other ideas and stooped to grab a 92nd minute winner to send the crowd wild. Such drama!

No time to rest however, as a bank holiday fixture against Litherland REMYCA was next on the agenda.

Everyone was in high spirits as 3 goals in the first 23 minutes virtually sealed the match for the Vics, followed by another 5 goals in the second half to record a magnificent 8-0 win to finish the month.

So, a busy month saw 8 games, 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats to leave Vics in 6th place in the league and through to the 1st Qualifying Round in the FA Cup, which saw Vics play Lancaster City away at the weekend.

Not a bad first month for the campaign with an average attendance of 206 over the 6 home matches, and our highest league win for a long long time.

Why not come down, and see for yourself, the new-look fan-run Northwich Vics.

The next home game is tomorrow when we take on Lancaster City in an FA Cup replay.

NVFC: The Club That Wouldn’t Die