A valiant late fight back from nine men North Ferriby proved in vain as Northwich picked up their first win in four Evo-Stik Northern Premier League games.

The success also saw Northwich close the gap on Chester at the top of the league to six points with a game in hand, after the Blues could only draw at Chasetown.

Northwich made one change from the team that defeated Hampton & Richmond Borough in the FA Trophy, with Ryan Wade replacing Jordan Johnson who did not even feature on the bench.

It was Northwich that made a bright start and Kevin Larvin was forced to clear Wade’s header at the back post off the line from Nathan Woolfe’s in swinging corner.

The pressure told on eight minutes when Northwich were rewarded a penalty and Steven Gardner saw red for a deliberate handball in the box, but Kyle Armstrong’s weak penalty was comfortably saved by Steven Wilson in the Ferriby goal.

The sending off prompted ten men Ferriby to sit deep and make it difficult for Northwich to play, consequently few chances were created, although Wade did manage to strike a post directly from a corner ball.

Events turned even more for the worst for Ferriby, when their captain, Chris Bolder was sent off for a two footed off the ball lunge from the back of Armstrong on forty one minutes.

Inevitably nine men Ferriby finally conceded on the stroke of half time, once more Woolfe’s corner caused no end of problems with Ferriby keeper Wilson dropping a relatively easy ball, and Wayne Riley was there to bury the ball home through a cluster of players.

If the events of the end of the half had effected Ferriby, an early goal at the start did not serve to help, it came when a Nathan Woolfe shot from twenty five yards that seemed to be harmlessly going straight into the keeper, took a wicked deflection of Nathan Peat and found itself into the top corner of the net on fifty three minutes to compound the luck of Ferriby.

Northwich pushed for a third goal and had to again work hard in creating opportunities, one such opportunity came when Gregg Anderson was forced into clearing Lewis Short’s dangerous cross over the bar, after Woolfe had sent the full back through from Chris Budrys’s flick on.

Ferriby defended stubbornly in the second half and to their credit held their own, but they had keeper, Wilson to thank for finger tipping Armstrong’s shot from inside the penalty area over the bar.

But substitute, Michael Clarke’s close range header from a looping corner delivery on seventy seven minutes further extended Northwich’s lead and seemingly put Ferriby out of the game.

A comfortable win was not to be the case for Northwich and almost immediately after, the lively Wayne Brooksby slotted home past Ben Hinchliffe on the edge of the area on seventy eight minutes to give Ferriby a chance.

Northwich seemed to have dropped their performance levels and allowed Ferriby a path back into the game, the substitutions of skipper Ian Kearney and full back Short unsettled the defence and Ferriby pulled a further goal back, when Russell Fry’s free kick from the left deceived Hinchliffe as it dipped into the top corner on eighty nine minutes.

This set up a tense final but Northwich held on comfortably in the four allocated minutes of stoppage time to record their tenth away day success of the season.

North Ferriby: Wilson (GK), Gardner, Larvin, Peat, Anderson, Denton (Riordan 74), Brooksby, Fry, Bolder (C), Bradshaw (Morris 76), Clarke

Substitutes: Morris, Williams, Riordan, Taylor, Moy

Bookings: Gardner (sent off on eight minutes for a deliberate handball), Bolder (sent off on forty one minutes), Denton (y55)

Goals: Brooksby (78), Fry (89)

Northwich: Hinchliffe (GK), Disney, Short (Fitzpatrick 85), Collins, Kearney (C) (Smyth 69), Armstrong, Riley, Roddy, Budrys, Woolfe, Wade (Clarke 69)

Substitutes: Evans, Smyth, Clarke, Fitzpatrick, Abbot

Goals: Riley (45), Peat (53 OG), Clarke (77)

Referee: N Sharp

Assistant (Red) M Gillespie

Assistant (Yellow) K Howe

Attendance: 258

Man of the match: Wayne Brooksby, the talented former Hull youngster put in a performance of tireless energy and skill to keep his side in the game. His goal was well taken as well.