THE VICS COLUMN - by Pete Tonge

WELL it’s been a quiet week or so for the Vics as our scheduled match away at Bootle last Tuesday was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

This news was hardly surprising considering all the rain that we have had.

However, it does mean another match to fit into the final half of the season.

This was doubly annoying since we didn’t have a match scheduled for the Saturday either!

So, that is nice 10 days rest for the squad, although I am sure an extra training session for the Saturday was arranged to keep up the sharpness and to work on a few things to keep our good start to 2020 going.

Also, on the plus side the little break does allow the players to recover from those annoying little niggles, so it’s not all bad.

Postponed matches mean more work though for our dedicated Club Secretary, Dave Thomas as he attempts to fit in yet another match into an already crowded fixture list. Dave is a godsend to our club.

Nobody knows all the ways and means of dealing with all the vagaries of the League, and all of the rules and regulations, better than him.

After our tremendous win against Conference League Stockport County in the second Round of the Cheshire Senior Cup, we have been drawn away at Northern Premier League club Nantwich town in the Quarter-Finals.

This match will take place on Tuesday, 4 February down at The Weaver Stadium in Nantwich.

Although this competition is no longer as valued as it once was, it is nevertheless always an entertaining and enjoyable distraction from the week-to-week routine of the league though, with the added bonus of possible silverware at the end of it.

It would be tremendous if it got the merit it used to have in its heyday when crowds well into the thousands would watch the final rather than the few hundred nowadays.

We have two home matches coming up now though.

First up we play Barnoldswick Town tonight and then we move on to Saturday’s fixture against the high-flying Rylands outfit.

Let’s hope we can make home advantage pay and keep up our excellent start to 2020.

Certainly being at home is an advantage for the players.

However, it does mean more work from our wonderful volunteers whose work to get these matches on, often goes un-noticed by the match going spectator.

So I would like to say thank you to all those who do their little bit to help the Vics in all possible ways.

Their work is very much appreciated.

Why not come down and show your support for the Vics, after all it is your local club, and is owned and run by the supporters.

We hope to see you on Saturday for the match against Rylands.

NVFC: The club that wouldn’t die