DISTANT VICS NEWSLETTER

PART OF NORTHWICH VICTORIA SUPPORTERS TRUST

NUMBER 528 18^th MARCH 2010

CLUB NEWS

Vics are away to Solihull on Saturday and play Woodley Sports in the Cheshire Senior Cup Final at Altrincham on Wednersday (7.45). The main injury doubt is Aspin with Dutton suspended for both games and Connor suspended for the Woodley game. Prices for Wednesday night are £8 and £3 concessions.

To avoid confusion (several people have already asked for clarification on this) Vics are at home to Woodley FC (as opposed to Woodley Sports!) a week on Monday in the Mid Cheshire Senior Cup semi-final. The Monday night scheduling is to avoid the champions League on TV. Prices are £5 (sit or stand) £3 concessions and £1 U16’s

SUPPORTERS TRUST

Travel arrangements this week are as follows:

Solihull – dep Memorial Hall at 12.0. Prices £12 and £10

CSC Final – dep Memorial Hall 6.15. There will be no charge for this trip.

Seats still available on both trips and, as usual, book via Dave Thomas on 01606 815208

Pete Wilson has suffered a ‘Beckham’ type injury (!!!) and was unable to speak with Jim Rushe this week re the questions to be asked. Hopefully the replies will be available next week. Apologies for the delay.

THE GUARDIAN - Andrew Simpson

ARTICLE No 1

JAMIE Vermiglio looks likely to miss the rest of the season after hurting his hamstring in last night’s stalemate with Vauxhall Motors.

The former AFC Telford United midfielder, filling in as a forward in Brian Dutton’s absence, pulled up shortly before half time as he sprinted into space behind the Motormen’s back line.

“It looks bad,” admitted Vics boss Andy Preece.

“It’s a blow because he’s been doing well in the past couple of weeks and looked to be getting close to full fitness.

“But the early signs are not good; I don’t think we’ll see him again in the games we’ve got left.”

Vermiglio, 27, joins Mike Aspin (groin) on the injury list.

With Dutton still to serve two more matches of a suspension plus Michael Connor and Nat Kerr facing two-matches bans as well as punishment for being booked ten times, Preece is likely to be short on numbers in the coming fortnight.

Ian Herring, sent off in stoppage time last night, will miss a match too.

“We’re down to the bare bones and it’s hard asking so much of the players every three or four days,” added Preece.

“But because of the transfer embargo we can’t bring in anybody that could allow one or two to have a rest. Instead we ask them to keep going.

“It’s a shame for Jamie because I felt he did a great job for us in a position he’s not familiar with. He held up the ball well and caused them one or two problems.

“I think our fans were starting to see what a good player he is. We’ll have to wait and see how bad the damage is but it does not look good.”

ARTICLE No 2

ANDY Preece refused to criticise his players after they failed to find a way through the Blue Square North’s most porous defence for a second time.

The Northwich Victoria manager told the Guardian he felt the hosts had done enough to deserve more than a third successive draw that leaves them still eight points adrift of the play-offs positions.

“We’re suffering, no doubt about it, but importantly we’re not losing,” he said.

“I can’t question the players’ attitude because they are giving it a right go.

“Sometimes you have to scratch out a win in an ugly way but we couldn’t quite do that although it’s hard against teams that defend stoutly and in numbers like they did.

“It’s true the three draws are likely to hurt our position in the table.”

Northwich had two goals disallowed too.

First Wayne Riley’s volley inside the game’s first minute was chalked off after Mark Danks was judged to have strayed offside, then substitute Jonny Allan was denied a dream return to action after he had pounced on a rebound to score in the second half.

Again an offside flag denied the home team a breakthrough.

“I think we should have been ahead in the first minute and if we do that sets the tone,” said Preece.

“If we go 1-0 up at the moment then that forces Vauxhall to come out of their shell and opens up the game a lot.

“It’s fair to say that we didn’t create too many opportunities in open play; there were one or two though before we had the goal disallowed in the second half.

“We probably lack enough creativity in the centre of the pitch and it’s difficult when you don’t have somebody who can switch play quickly to stretch a defence.

“Normally Mark Danks or Wayne Riley are capable of conjuring up something for us but neither of them were quite at the top of their game.”

Captain Ian Herring was sent off in second half stoppage time after being booked for a second time; the second Northwich player to suffer that fate in matches against Vauxhall this season.

“Innocuous,” was Preece’s verdict on the foul that led to his second caution.

The former Worcester City boss told the Guardian he preferred not to comment on the performance match official Oliver Yates, who earlier this season showed a red card to Danks in Vics’ 2-2 draw at Stafford Rangers.

“I think anybody who was at the game can make up their own mind,” said Preece.

“I’m starting to sound like a broken record talking about the standard of referees at this level; I’ll let you do that this time.”

ARTICLE NO 3

ANDY Preece believes Northwich Victoria’s performance against Stafford Rangers deserved more than a draw.

The Vics boss told the Guardian that the visitors should have been a beaten team by the break after their second 2-2 draw of the week.

“We created chance after chance and got into great areas to cause them problems – I don’t think they even got over the halfway line before they scored,” he said.

“But once again we’ve been punished because we haven’t taken enough of the opportunities we made to score.

“That said I thought our first half performance was superb, really magnificent.

“The pitch is bobbly at the moment, but you would not have guessed that watching the football that we played before half time.”

Brian Dutton’s angled shot put Northwich ahead after he ran onto Michael Connor’s lofted pass, but Rangers levelled when Craig McAughtrie scrambled in a loose ball following a clever free kick routine.

In between Mark Danks, Danny Meadowcroft, Harry Winter and Wayne Riley all missed chances to double Vics’ lead.

“I’m frustrated to say the least,” added Preece.

“The team that’s going out there is making chances to score. No single one player is missing from there so it’s a collective thing.

“I think we need to show a bit more calmness and quality in front of goal. But we keep falling just short.

“It’s important not to criticise too much because I truly believe we are playing well and will continue to do so.”

Dominic Merella had the freedom of Wincham to put Stafford in front nine minutes into the second half, making the most of a calmitious gaffe by Mike Aspin and Junior Brown.

They both failed to deal with Tony Dinning’s punt upfield, leaving the Rangers wide man to run clear on goal.

“I’m disappointed about both of their goals,” said Preece.

“In my opinion everybody in the ground could guess what they were going to do from the free kick except our players.

“What can I do about the second one? That just about sums us up at the moment.

“Late on they did create one or two opportunities and we looked a big ragged defensively.

“But I think that’s because we chased the game a little bit too much and left spaces for their players to run into.”

CONFERENCE RAMBLINGS

Fleetwood Town chairman Andy Pilley has spoken about the Football Conference’s decision to expunge Farsley Celtic’s Blue Square North record.
The Yorkshire outfit failed to fulfil three fixtures and a series of events, including deregistering their first team squad, saw the governing body consider these steps as Farsley’s resignation.
The removal of the playing record, and subsequent readjustment of the Blue Square North table, left many clubs worse off and opened the title race in favour of second spot Southport. The decision effectively closed the promotion race gap in favour of the second placed side as they only took three points off Farsley, whereas Fleetwood won home and away.
Pilley said stripping the table of Farsley Celtic’s results wasn’t the only option open to the league bosses.
“The Football Conference rules give no definitive answer to this scenario. Given we are so far down the line, and given the top three teams had played Farsley home and away, we think the fairest situation would be giving three points to the teams still to play Farsley. The Conference has made their decision. There wasn’t a meeting or vote for member clubs. We must now appeal to the FA and who knows where. Legal advice has been taken and we are told there is a strong case to rectify what we see as a great injustice.
“We are very upset and annoyed this hasn’t happened. We had two very difficult games against Farsley and we were successful beating them home and away. Southport didn’t, they lost at home but won away. We feel we have been treated very unjustly.
“Fleetwood Town believe the Football Conference has an obligation to act in the best interests of the competition. Bearing in mind the top three teams have played Farsley home and away then I don’t think they are acting in the best interest by expunging these results.
“The pinnacle of the competition is winning the league and there is a lot of money at stake. We’ve done our research and believe our turn-over could increase by as much as £500,000 if we are successful and go into the Blue Square Premier. The action which has been taken seriously weakens our chances on the field.
“We have the right to appeal and that is definitely going to happen. We’ve spoke to a number of other clubs as well and they are also very upset and annoyed. The implications are huge. Farsley should have been encouraged and helped to play on. We have evidence to the effect saying Farsley didn’t resign and could have potentially played on. If that was the case, it would have been much fairer considering the three tops clubs have already met Farsley twice.
“The appeal will be lodged very soon and we are finalising talks with our legal advisors about exactly how the appeal will be put together. It is a legal document and we have to clearly state what grounds we are appealing.
“Just to add to the farce, we have a player who is suspended this Saturday for picking up a yellow card against Farsley. We are told the goals don’t count including the fantastic wonder goal by Jamie Milligan from his own half. That was watched by 2.5 million people on YouTube.
“We are told the goals don’t count but the bookings do. Surely everything has to count. The public have paid and gone in to watch these games. Players have sweated and worked hard and, given the stage of the season and what’s at stake, the results should count. There is a more logical way top conclude this affair,” added Pilley.

It took twenty-nine matches, but UniBond League Premier Division bottom-markers Durham City have finally won and it meant so much to the club that manager Richard Ord was in tears at the final whistle.
On Saturday, Durham beat FC United of Manchester 2-1 away with the help of a penalty miss. They had lost the previous 28 league games with a goal difference of -118.

Newport County sealed promotion to the Blue Square Premier with a comfortable win over Havant & Waterlooville.

Sam Foley grabbed both goals, the first coming midway through the first half as he headed home Jamie Collins' cross from close range at the far post.

Then, on 67 minutes, he struck his 17th goal of the season, reacting first after Havant cleared off the line.

A record crowd of 4,221 witnessed Dean Holdsworth's side being crowned Blue Square South champions.

It means next season Newport will play at the same level as when the old club folded 21 years ago.

Maidstone United have abandoned hope of receiving further compensation from Fulham for defender Chris Smalling after his move to Manchester United.

The 20-year-old joined the Cottagers in 2008 and has now agreed a summer move to Old Trafford for an undisclosed fee.

Stones chairman Paul Bowden-Brown told BBC Radio Kent: "I appealed to Fulham owner Mohammed Al-Fayed and their chief executive but without success."

Smalling's move to Man Utd has already triggered a compensation agreement.

"We agreed with Fulham that for every 10 first-team appearances Chris made, Maidstone would receive £10,000," Bowden-Brown added.

"There was no sell-on clause because Chris was a schoolboy while he was with us and could not have played for England Schoolboys had he been on contract.

"I wrote to Al-Fayed and their chief executive, as did many of our supporters, pointing out our circumstances.

"They responded by saying that Chris had been a rough diamond when they signed him and that their manager Roy Hodgson had developed him.

"There will be no further payment of any sort coming to Maidstone."

The cash-strapped Stones have been unable to pay their players since 5 December and have deferred paying any wages until the end of the season.

Maidstone are seeking to establish a ground of their own in the town, they presently lodge with Ashford Town after leaving Sittingbourne last season.

EX-VICS

Greg Blundell scored the only goal in Barrow’s FA Trophy Semi Final victory at Salisbury last weekend.

REMINDERS

2nd NVFC BEER FESTIVAL - 12/06/2010 at the club.
Tickets for the event are going to be on sale from the club shop on match days, cost for the event is £5.00 and it is a ticket only event with all proceeds made going to the club.
We are also looking for sponsors for barrels of beer at the event, cost for a barrel is £75.00 and for this you receive two tickets for the event, your details on the bar as sponsor, in the beer programme and we hope like last year that you will get a mention in the Northwich Guardian and on their web page.
Also we are looking at selling advertising on the programme, it will be for a 1/4 page advert and cost will be £25.
If anyone is interested then they can contact Andy on 07989836303 or by e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it