Warrington Town manager Mark Beesley was pleased with the attitude of his senior players as they beat Cammell Laird 2-1 to advance in the Cheshire Senior Cup on Tuesday night.
Goals in either half from Connor Woods and Sam Gill on debut helped the Yellows overcome stubborn opposition four divisions below them in the football pyramid.
Tuesday’s win at Kirklands means the club will go on to face either Northwich Victoria or Cheadle Town in the next round of the competition.
Discussing his side’s performance post-match, Beesley said: “It was a good run-out on a very, very difficult pitch.
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“We were a little bit concerned at the beginning about going with such a strong side on this pitch, but it was important some lads got a certain amount of minutes.
“The senior lads that played showed a great attitude and moved the ball really well at times. We scored a couple of good goals and probably should have scored more.
“The game came at right time with us not playing on Saturday.
“The one that probably shouldn’t have played was Tom Hannigan because he’s played so much, but Mitch Duggan had a slight niggle in training that we didn’t want to risk.
“Andre Wisdom hasn’t played too much and Dec Walker is the same, then players like Matty [Grivosti], Beno [Aaron Bennett] and Bohan [Dixon] needed the minutes as well.
“We also wanted to give Connor Woods a chance to get back on the scoresheet, and it was great to see Josh Amis back.”
Beesley named a strong side for the fixture, with club captain Amis making his return from injury and enjoying his first taste of competitive action since the Northern Premier League play-off final back in May.
Andre Wisdom also made his second appearance for the club, having joined ahead of the Yellows last league outing at home to King’s Lynn Town.
One youngster who did get the chance to start was Gill, scorer of the second goal. There were also appearances from the bench for a number of his Under 21s team-mates as the match wore on.
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“If the game would have fallen between two league games, you may have seen a different team and that may be the case next time, but we’ve got some good young lads we can call on,” Beesley admitted.
“It’s good that we can combine them with our senior players. Sam’s been training with us for a while, but this is the first time we’ve been able to get him out on the pitch with us.
“I thought he did well – he was nice and calm and has a good left foot. The good thing with Sam is that he knows everybody and it was an easier transition for him.
“We’ll keep him with us and then a little further down the line, we’ll look to get him some games somewhere.”
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