THE VICS COLUMN - By Pete Tonge

SATURDAY saw Vics embark upon their now annual away day to North Wales, this time to take on Prestatyn Town.

Ok, no coach for the away days club due to Covid, but 50-60 supporters founds ways of getting down to support their team and enjoy the delights of Prestatyn (yes, there are some!).

I drove down with the pleasurable company of Murph and arrived around midday and parked up in the empty Prestatyn Town car-park.

A walk into town and down to the sea front and we were soon settled in a beach-side bar having a bite to eat and a drink.

A quick stroll around the rest of the town and we headed back towards the ground and soon found those who had come down by train settled in at the Central Beach Club which overlooks the ground, enjoying a few beers.

It would have been rude not to join them (Heineken Blue of course for me). Then it was a short walk down to the ground where the rest of the Vics’ support were. Time to catch up with people we hadn’t seen for far too long, it was good to be back!

Northwich Guardian:

Picture: Angela Buckley

Now onto the match, and a quick “Zigga-Zagga” to check that everyone had remembered the words! They had! We were back.

The match itself was fairly competitive for a pre-season friendly, with a referee who barely moved out of the centre circle and no linesmen for some reason. It all adds to the fun.

Vics took the lead after half an hour when Brad Lynch was felled in the box, and he coolly converted the resultant penalty.

The lead was doubled when Brandon Barski scored almost immediately after the interval. A third followed, scored by Ryan Winder after about 70 mins.

Then the game became slightly bizarre as at 78 minutes, the ref awarded Prestatyn a penalty which Vics hotly protested as it was offside (no linesmen), Joe Camozzi was sin-binned (who knew that was still in force ) for his protests.

Chris Cheetham in the Vics net then saved the penalty kick, and the referee decided that 79 mins was enough time played and ended the match stating that his watch was correct and others were Mickey Mouse ones, and anyway he had other places to be! All very bizarre.

To end, a special word of praise for Prestatyn Town for making entry to the match a donation to the “Curved Wings Will Fly” campaign which is helping raise money for young Vics supporter Olivia Buckley in her battle against Scoliosis and for an operation abroad which will help her have an unrestricted future.

I believe this raised over £300 for the fund, and it was wonderful to see another club make the effort in making it a special day for Olivia and her family (see picture in this column at northwichguardian.co.uk).