Report: Hednesford Town 2-1 Warrington Town

Warrington Town suffered their first defeat of the season as they went down 2-1 to Northern Premier League favourites Hednesford Town.

After an even first half where the Yellows came the closest through Enock Lusiama’s shot that came back off the inside of the post, the hosts took the lead within two minutes of the restart.

Niall Watson, son of former Yellows favourite Liam, crashed home after a slip in the box by Jay Harris had opened things up for Hednesford.

The fractured nature of the game suited them after that and they made the points safe on 76 minutes when Elliott Johnson diverted home Kieron Freeman’s corner, despite the best efforts of Harris on the line.

Li-Bau Stowell, who had earlier saved excellently to tip over Dan Trickett-Smith’s top corner bound curling shot, was beaten for a third time in the closing minutes, only for Matty Tweedley to get back and clear off the line.

The Yellows did give themselves a lifeline in the first of the seven added minutes, Reece Daly’s drive and shot coming back off the post for Dontai Gabidon to steer home via a deflection, but they couldn’t find an equaliser.

Paul Carden handed a debut to 17-year-old defender Jayden Lloyd, with Scott Butler missing through injury, and Matty Waters also came in for his first Yellows appearance as a left wing-back as Carden opted to start with a back three.

A quick tempo opening saw Jack Doyle called in to a goal-line clearance to deny the excellent Ollie Harrison off a wicked Freeman corner, and Bohan Dixon was perhaps fortunate to avoid a straight red card after just six minutes, when he brought down Jonny Edwards when through on goal.

There were few chances in the first half, the best of which was created by Lusiama on 20 minutes, curling a left-foot shot from the right corner of the box that beat the ‘keeper but came back off the post.

Stowell had already denied Trickett-Smith when the opening goal came within two minutes of the restart, and the young goalkeeper also denied Watson when through on goal.

The Yellows just lacked the creativity to create get back at Hednesford, though they did at least manage to break their goalscoring duck through Gabidon, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Whitby Town.

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan, Johnson, Wynter, Harrison, Freeman, Trickett-Smith (Maye), Doyle-Charles, Edwards (Rose), McHale (Turner), Watson (Blissett). Unused sub: Brown.

Warrington Town: Stowell, Lloyd, Waters (Gabidon), Dixon (Daly), Bourne, Doyle, Melhado (Brazier), Tweedley, Lusiama, Harris, Murphy. Unused subs: Roper, Morgan.

Post-match reaction