Mark Beesley reflects on Cheshire Senior Cup victory

Warrington Town manager Mark Beesley was delighted with his side’s performance as they beat Ashville 1-0 to progress into the quarter-final of the Cheshire Senior Cup.

A second half goal from Aaron Bennet was enough to overcome a determined performance from the Wallasey-based North West Counties League outfit.

The cup tie was also a good opportunity for Mark Beesley to give a run-out to some of the younger players from the club’s league-leading U21s and the Robbie Fowler Academy, as well as Jay Harris, who played his first minutes since recovering from a long-term groin injury.

Discussing last night’s performance, Beesley said: “It was a really good run-out for them all on a difficult pitch – it was very heavy so that’s why we couldn’t risk any of the lads who’ve played a lot of minutes recently.

“From our point of view, it was good to see Jay Harris back on the pitch. He came through the game okay, with the injury that he’s had, we’ll see how he feels over the next couple of days.

“We’ll just have to manage him, it’s his first step getting on the pitch but it’s a big bonus for us all to have Jay back with us.

“If you ask Allie [club physio], today’s game was probably too soon for him to return but he wanted to play and he knows his own body so if he wants to play then he wants to play.”

Despite selecting a number of youth players to feature against Ashville, senior players Aaron Bennett and Matt Grivsoti were tasked to help push the young Yellows side over the line.

Bennett’s strike in the 61st minute, his first since joining the club on the eve of the National League North season, was enough to see out a hard-fought win in a difficult encounter.

Sam Gill, who has been around the first team squad since making the step up from the U21s at the start of the campaign, made his second appearance for the Yellows alongside Harry McVeigh and Connor McCauley who have both featured for the Yellows’ youth side this season.

“It was a good finish from Aaron, I thought that he and Matty showed a good attitude – it’s not easy to come and play when a lot of your peers aren’t here.

“They need to be right because we’ve only got a small squad so they need to be available.

“Sam has been with us all season and he’s getting better and better. The way that he’s training with us and playing minutes here and there is good for his development.

“Moving forward, he is someone who we can hopefully get him out playing more games but he’s quite important to us at the moment, alongside Deacon [Smalley] and a number of others who have been around the first team because we don’t have big numbers.

“We need to be safeguarding the future of the club by looking at the younger players – I thought that the two centre-halves, Sam and Harry [McVeigh] were excellent, so it’s good to have the opportunity to give minutes to our younger lads in games like this.”

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