THERE were no early Christmas presents for fans of Witton Albion, 1874 Northwich and Northwich Victoria as all three suffered defeats on Saturday afternoon.

Witton were beaten at home by 10-man Vauxhall Motors in Northern Premier League West, which was their first loss in four outings and sent the majority in the 403 crowd home disappointed.

Craig Curran netted twice for the visitors in the last five minutes of the first half.

Vauxhall had Sean Moscrop sent off two minutes into the new half but Connor Hughes’ 89th-minute strike for Witton proved to be nothing more than a consolation.

The loss comes at the end of a week in which club president Eric Finnigan has died, aged 92.

The defeat also followed news that Joe Mwasile and Jack Sherratt have been released by the club, and Tom Hoyle has returned to Fleetwood following his loan spell.

Meanwhile, Tom Pope has been named as player/coach and the home clash with City of Liverpool has been rearranged for Tuesday, January 9, kick-off 7.45pm.

In the same division, 1874 Northwich were hammered 5-0 at Kidsgrove Athletic.

It was the first defeat, after two draws, since Damian Crossley took charge.

This was 1874’s widest margin of defeat since they lost 5-0 at home to Bootle on October 2, 2021.

They remain second from bottom, a point clear of Hednesford Town who were 1-0 losers at third-bottom Trafford.

Former 1874 player Joe Woolley was slotted through to put Kidsgrove ahead in the first minute.

Mason Fawns doubled Kidsgrove’s advantage in a ninth-minute counter attack.

The hosts hit the crossbar in the 31st minute but 1874 had a couple of first-half chances to equalise.

A great save denied Matty Birchall moments after the second goal went in and the rebound was skewed wide by Jamie Nicholson.

And just before the break a free header by Matty Fenton skimmed the post and went wide.

Crossley made changes at the interval, with Lewis Brodley and Jamie Nicholson going off and Sam Oliver and Eric Byrne entering the action.

Jack Marrow attempted to halve the deficit but his left-footed curler brought a great save out of the home keeper.

But suddenly it was 3-0, Jordan Cole being clinical with a looping header in the 51st minute.

Cole got on the end of another cross to make it four with a thumping header after 70 minutes.

A Matt Woolley strike from distance was well saved before ‘Grove wrapped up their scoring in added time, with Joe Woolley finishing what he had started.

Meanwhile, Northwich Victoria fell 2-1 at Whitchurch Alport in the Midland League Premier Division.

They lost to a sucker punch in the 90th minute when it was looking like they had at least secured a share of the spoils with a fantastic strike from Marcus Perry 20 minutes earlier.

Frazer Cookson smashed a shot against the crossbar and Whitchurch then went down to the other end to snatch the winner through Tom Meesham, still leaving Vics without a league win on the road this season and with just four points from their last six league matches.

Whitchurch had taken the lead in the fourth minute through Harry Bower and a blast from Kobe McWilliams struck the post as Vics sought a quick response.

The hosts also hit the woodwork in the 55th minute, shortly before McWilliams was sin-binned.