Report: Marine 1-0 Warrington Town

Substitute Fin Sinclair-Smith’s second-half strike condemned Warrington Town to a 1-0 defeat at Marine in their penultimate away game of the National League North season.

Sinclair-Smith marked an impressive cameo with the match-winning moment with just over 20 minutes to play, firing a low effort towards the bottom right corner which was just out of goalkeeper Dan Atherton’s reach.

In the end, the hosts were full value for the win, creating multiple chances as the game wore on against a Yellows side that made the trip to Merseyside down on numbers, and only able to name a four-man bench.

Paul Carden made two changes to his starting XI following last weekend’s 2-1 home defeat to Brackley Town, left-back Jack Hont and captain Josh Amis returning in place of the injured Ollie Southern and Matty McDonald, who was named among the substitutes.

It proved to be a first half of few chances, between two teams with little to play for in the grand scheme of the league table.

Nevertheless, the hosts had a chance to hit the front inside 90 seconds as a wayward Atherton clearance fell at the feet of Owen Robinson, who dragged a hurried low effort wide from 25 yards out.

A couple of Aaron James long throw-ins aside, the Yellows failed to really lay a glove on Marine, who saw another opportunity go awry in the opening quarter as experienced defender James Butler headed over at the back post after a searching cross from the left.

The final chance of a relatively drab opening 45 minutes came on the stroke of half-time for Marine.

And Robinson was once again in the thick of things, Adam Thomas’ delivery from the right bouncing all the way through for the former Sunderland man, whose low half-volley whistled the wrong side of Atherton’s left-hand post.

The early moments of the second half saw two flashpoints, during which time both teams could’ve arguably been reduced to 10 men.

The first saw Yellows midfielder Jay Harris scythed down on halfway after a high and perhaps reckless challenge from Bailey Sloane, who managed to escape with just a yellow card, despite the protests from those in a Yellows shirt.

For his part in the mini-fracas which came after the challenge, Harris was booked, and soon after he came up with a foul in front of the two benches which left Marine furious that a second yellow card didn’t materialise.

It would matter little for the Mariners, who upped the ante as the game passed beyond the hour mark.

Harvey Gregson and substitute Sinclair-Smith both worked Atherton with respective headers – the effort of the former parried away superbly.

But with 69 minutes on the clock, Sinclair-Smith’s impressive cameo was rewarded with a goal. Under pressure, Matthew Makinson could only clear the ball as far as the tricky forward, who worked room for a shot on the edge of the box and arrowed a strike past the outstretched Atherton to find the bottom right corner.

In a game of few chances for Paul Carden’s men, their best came in the final minute of regular time. A floated Sam Gill corner just evaded Atherton but was met by second-half substitute Murphy Bennett, who guided his header just wide of the far post with Marine goalkeeper Max Metcalfe well beaten.

The hosts’ one-goal lead could’ve grown further in stoppage time, with Atherton asked to be at his best to stop Robinson’s effort from finding the top right corner, before producing another excellent point-blank stop to keep out Bobby Grant moments later.

Defeat means the Yellows stay second-bottom ahead of their final home game of the season against Southport on Easter Monday.

Marine: Metcalfe, Thomas, Doyle (Wardle), Butler, Sloane, Fielding, Whelan, Gregson, Robinson, Scarisbrick (Sinclair-Smith), Murphy (Grant). Unused subs: Lusiama, Brown.

Warrington Town: Atherton, James, Makinson, Clarke, Hont, Amaral (Bennett), Dixon, O’Neill (Noone), Harris, Gill, Amis. Unused subs: McDonald, Green.

Post-match reaction