Late heartbreak sees Warrington Town share the points

WARRINGTON Town conceded a late equaliser having twice fought from behind to draw 3-3 against bottom of the table Grantham Town.

It looked like Stefan Mols had pinched the three points for the hosts when he diverted home Lewis Coulton’s cross in the 90th minute.

But a mistake by goalkeeper Dan Atherton gifted Ashton Hall the chance to share the spoils with virtually the last kick of the game.

For the third successive week, the Yellows were left frustrated by what they felt was an incorrect penalty decision.

A ball over the top held up in the wind and as Mark Roberts and Khallem Bailey-Nichols battled for it, they both went to ground and Roberts was adjudged to have brought the Grantham man down which seemed outside the box.

Referee Zharir Mustafa pointed to the spot though, and Ricky Miller didn’t need asking twice to step up and send Atherton the wrong way to open the scoring midway through the first half.

The Gingerbreads were decent value for their lead having had the better of the opening quarter, in spite of their lowly league position.

The excellent Elliott Durrell, signed from former Yellows boss Paul Carden’s AFC Telford United, flashed a shot wide of Atherton’s right hand post moments later, but otherwise there was very little in the way of goalmouth action.

To try and correct that, Mark Beesley sent on Jordan Buckley at half-time in a bid to liven the Yellows up.

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And within eight minutes of the restart, it paid off. Buckley went on a weaving run down the right hand side and found Josh Amis, and his lay-off was struck in to the top corner by Sean Williams from the edge of the box.

The more purposeful Yellows started to have more of the possession and territory, though Grantham continued to look dangerous going the other way.

Durrell was breaking up much of the play in midfield and he then had a pivotal role in the goal that restored the visitors’ advantage.

After the Yellows were caught offside in the corner, Durrell travelled through midfield and found substitute Lee Shaw. Shaw backed James Baillie in to the box and squared for Miller to tap in from eight yards out for his second.

It took a moment of sheer class from Buckley to equalise for the second time five minutes from the end.

He brought in Matt Grivosti’s ball over the top and swept home left-footed.

And then in the final minute, patient play down the left saw Coulton’s low ball to the near post steered home by Mols and it looked like the Yellows had got out of jail.

But in the dying moments, after Baillie conceded a free-kick for handball, Durrell’s high delivery was spilled under his own cross bar by Atherton and Hall diverted the ball home amongst a ruck of bodies.

Warrington are next in action at home to Nantwich Town on Tuesday night.

Warrington: Atherton, Baillie, Coulton, Harris (Mols), Roberts, Regan, Bell (Buckley), Williams, Amis, Dixon, Duffy (Grivosti). Unused subs: Hough, Gumbs.

Grantham: Pollard, Tuntugawana, Hall, Durrell, Townrow, Williamson, Wafula, Clarke (Aydemir), Miller (Unwin), Bailey-Nichols (Shaw), Storey. Unused subs: Macrae, Gurney.

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