The previous two meetings both ended up in defeat. Abdullah stole the show for Northwich, the winger showed pace and determination to produce a fine display on an important day for the home side.

The win for Northwich keeps them level on points with 2nd place Formby in the race for that all important final promotion spot. The Vikings finish the season in 14th as they look to rebuild for next season. The home side struck early with a 2nd minute goal from David Short, a delightful through ball put the number 9 through on goal to slot the ball past Jack Earle. It wasn’t the start the Vikings were hoping as they looked to avoid a repeat of the home fixture earlier in the season.

The away side had their first clear cut chance of the game after a sloppy ball back found Ben Tollitt but his shot was straight at Matthew Conkie in the Northwich goal. It was a game of very few clear cut opportunities for the Vikings. After the early goal the game started to fall into a battle in the midfield, as Northwich fought for that important second goal. It came just after half time when a mistake Daniel Garvey put Sakeel Abdullah bearing down on goal, the winger calmly rounded the keeper to place the ball into the net. As in the first half it only took 2 minutes for the home side add to their tally.

Northwich top scorer Michael Brandon was sitting on the bench, being rested ahead of the visit of Holker Old Boys on Thursday night. He soon came on for Short to give the Vikings defence something else to think about. The away side showed some fantastic spells of possession but like for much of the season the end product was lacking. One person who certainly wasn’t lacking an end product was Michael Brandon, he bagged the first of his two goals from a Northwich corner. The striker was left unmarked as he headed home a simple header to add more misery for the away side
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Brandon rounded off a great a win for the club when a cross by Sakeel Abdullah found the free scoring striker in the box, Earle was powerless to stop him as he slotted home the fourth. Brandon wasn’t about the stop there as he went in search of his hat trick. Earle produced a brilliant save with his feet to deny him before superb defending by Garvey to clear the ball off the line, two chances for the elusive hat trick were gone.

Despite the heavy defeat the Vikings finished the game strongly with a number of chances but it wasn’t their day against their local rivals. They will want to put this season behind them and look forward to more success next season. Vikings manager Steve Hill was disappointed with the early goals conceded and said “We can’t argue with the result, Northwich deserved the win. I just think we give teams a little bit too much off a head start by giving silly goals away. It is like watching kamikaze football. The lads have got to stand up and be counted but I think that Northwich will still be in our division next year.”

Hill wanted to emphasise what the club needed to do over preseason in able to challenge for promotion and said “We have to aim to above and beyond them next season. We want to try and move up a division as well but it just shows us over the summer that we have a lot of work to do in terms of attracting new players to compliment some of the players that we have already got.”

1874 Northwich Team: Conkie, Mitchell, Duckworth, Thomas, Ashton, Jones (C) (Woolley), Abdullah, Bailey, Short (Brandon), Ward, Stewart (Woods) Subs: Woods, Farnworth, Woolley, Lunn, Brandon

Widnes Vikings FC Team: Earle, Davies, Carney, Mitchell, Garvey (C), Hughes, Boyle (Brizell), Cliff, Tollitt (Burns), Molloy, Thomas Subs: Burns, Brizell