THE VICS COLUMN - By Pete Tonge

WHAT a difference a year makes!

This weekend last year, the Vics were playing their first pre-season friendly of the campaign over at Llandudno Town.

Having earned enough brownie points over the close season, I had been “allowed” to arrange an overnight stay in Llandudno with four friends.

So we travelled down on the Friday afternoon and enjoyed a convivial evening exploring the Llandudno nightlife (well, what there was suitable for a nearly 60 year old anyway) and then walking down the pier on the Saturday morning before joining up with the coach load of Vics’ fans who had travelled across to Wales.

The weather was warm, the beer flowed for those who weren’t driving , and the Vics put in a fantastic performance to earn a 4-1 win to put us all in high hopes for the season proper.

However, it turned out to be a false omen as the rest of the season turned out to be a disappointing one for the club.

In contrast, this weekend, I’ll probably be watching Premier League games being played in front of no supporters, on the television. It’s definitely not the same.

Anyway, back to the Llandudno match, one of the scorers was “Killer” striker Tom Kilifin.

Unfortunately Killer won’t be at Vics this coming season, as he has announced that he has signed for his hometown club Lancaster City in the Northern Premier League.

He’ll be a big loss to the Vics having scored 12 goals in league and cup despite a few niggling injuries during the truncated season.

He was a credit to the club both on and off the field and we all wish him well for next season at Lancaster.

He’ll be a hard man to replace, but manager Steve Wilkes is working hard to find the ideal man, and there were plenty of new and old faces at training the other Thursday, all eager to impress.

However we can’t name any names until registration forms are signed and sealed.

It was great to see so many of our supporters popping down to watch the training, which was superbly organised to fit in with the Covid-19 regulations by Scott Campbell.

The lads were definitely made to work hard and there looked to be some impressive performances there which bodes well.

All we need now is a date for the league to restart, so that friendly matches can be confirmed, and players can be signed on and we can get back to watching the mighty Vics and real football again instead of the technically perfect, but passionless Premiership on TV.

Below, Tom Kilifin celebrates a goal for Vics. Picture: Angela Buckley