A LATE postponement of Tuesday night’s away trip to Highgate United cost Northwich Victoria’s players a quick chance to try and make some amends for their weekend horror show.

Management, players and fans were already on their way to Solihull when the call came from United officials saying that a deluge of rain had made The Coppice pitch unplayable, the ‘match off’ announcement by Vics being posted on social media at 6.21pm.

It was a night that Vics’ players had some making up to do after a shoddy display in a 6-0 defeat at Midland League Premier Division high-fliers Lichfield City on Saturday – a performance which angered boss Steve Pickup.

The Trickies manager branded the performance ‘lazy’ and said some players would be leaving the club as a result of their displays, on a day when Vics slipped to third from bottom of the Premier Division.

“It was poor,” said Pickup.

“We caused them a few problems in the first half, but out of possession we were lazy, we made the wrong decisions, and that’s why we came off with a 6-0 defeat – and deservedly so.

“I won’t put up with players giving half measures, everybody knows that, and trust me some of the players who were in the squad on Saturday won’t be in the squad in the coming weeks, definitely not.

“I said to them in the dressing room there’s a few of them who have bigger egos than they should have and if they don’t get rid of them egos then they won’t play for Northwich Vics, and that’s the underlining fact of it.

“I’m not stupid, I’ve been in this game a long time and I know when people are being carried by others.

“And that was a fact on Saturday because Lichfield didn’t earn their goals, as such - we gifted them at least four of them.

“Some of those players have not given me a honest performance and that’s my job to replace them.

“I apologise to the fans who travelled because a 6-0 defeat away to Lichfield, who are a decent side by the way, is not acceptable under any circumstances.”

Tommy Grindrod and Archie Angles, neither of whom played at Lichfield, have left the club this week.

Vics host Stone Old Alleynians at Barton Stadium, Winsford, on Saturday, kick-off 3pm, and visit Wolverhampton Casuals next Tuesday, 7.45pm – the two rivals sat directly above Pickup’s men on the ladder.