Northwich Victoria v Ossett Town Saturday 26th March 2011 Evo-Stik Premier Division

I decided on a double header for today taking in both Northwich Victoria and Witton Albion, whose grounds are very close together. As you will see from my report on Witton later, I'd already been to Wincham Park to take my photos of the ground. Leaving Witton's ground I made use of the path pointed out to me which leads you to a small wooden bridge over the water that seperates the two grounds and which is the shortest route between the two grounds. I would not neccessarily recommend this path for a night game or if the weather was extremely wet but in todays conditions I had no problems. The Victoria Stadium is just to the right as you come over the bridge.

This route takes you past the bar area, the main entrance and the Club shop (which was not open as I went past it, only an hour before kick off). I wander past this large stand and head towards the car entrance to take a few shots.

As I head back to the ground I go to the ticket office as everyone has to buy a ticket before you enter the ground.

I head to the right of the ticket office to find an open entrance to the ground. There are not many people about and not many turnstiles are open either. I end up at the far end of the ground and enter the ground through the Dane Bank Stand entrance.

This brings me into the ground in the corner with the huge Dane Bank terrace to my right and a large one level standing area behind the goal in front of me.

Here is the vast Dane Bank terrace.

I carry on to the standing area behind the goal and at the far end there are toilet facilities but not much else other than crush barriers at the front of the standing area. As you reach the corner there is nothing to stop you heading towards the seated Victoria Stand.

The stand has 1,180 seats and the Clubs initials are picked out in the green seats.

Parked up against the side of the stand was the Official Supporters Tour Bus!

Looking back from this corner you can see that the ground is situated on an industrial estate, with old industry as can be seen behind the stand and newer, modern industrial units near the entrance/exit to the ground.

I head back to the Dane Stand, the huge terrace which was brought from the Vics old ground, Drill Field. I walk up the steps to take a few shots.

I walk along the terrace to the other end which is basically a carbon copy of the end I came in, an uncovered flat terrace. This is used for the away fans with the Dane Stand also available for them too, as it can be segregated when necessary. There was no segregation today, I think there were only a few Ossett fans here, although they did use the uncovered terrace in the second half.

Now, normally I would give you a bit of a match summary at this point. But I have to be honest and tell you that this game was garbage. I got the impression that neither team had met their teamates before today, as the passes by both teams seemed to miss their intended target so many times! Northwich had the majority of possession but did not really threaten the Ossett goal often enough.

Ossett created the better chances on the day but some poor finishing kept the game goalless. It looked like being a 0-0 for most of the game. But on 84 minutes an Ossett free kick was only parried by the Vics keeper Spencer and substitute David Boardman pounced on the loose ball to fire home.

With no further score Ossett secured the three points and the Vics fans were very unhappy with their teams performance.
I just have one final comment to make about this game. It kicked off 2 or 3 minutes late which made my journey back to Witton a little bit tight, especially after the ref found 5 minutes additional time to add on at the end of the second half for one short injury and four substitutions. To compound matters, the official at the Witton game either kicked off dead on three or earlier as when I look at my watch inside Wincham Lane it is one minute past three and the game has started. Nothing like consistency is there!

More pictures of The Victoria Ground here.

There are pictures of the ground, action and the fans here.

Northwich Victoria 0-1 Ossett Town
Att: 277
Admission: £10
Programme: £2