Report: Poulton Victoria 2-0 Warrington Town Women

Two goals in three minutes secured another three points for league leaders Poulton Victoria in an entertaining encounter against Warrington Town.

Both teams were coming into the fixture with a win previously, with the hosts securing their place in the Cheshire FA Senior Cup Final after a 2-1 win on the road in Crewe, and the visitors earning three vital points on home turf against Litherland REMYCA.

The Yellows battled hard against an impressive Poulton side and it looked like an even game in the first half, much reflected by Poulton making an early tactical substitution in the 16th minute bringing skipper Charlotte Cloy off and star player Ellise Newby on.

Despite the change, the Vics still struggled to break past the Yellows' defensive lineup until the 40th minute when Alishia Wright was brought down in the box forcing the referee to point to the spot.

Yellows goalie Katie Donohue made an impressive save on the penalty shot, but substitute Ellise Newby was the quickest to react, giving her an easy tap-in to break the deadlock.

It wasn’t long at all when the Vics found the back of the net again with Alishia Wright driving down the right wing and putting a cross in which sped past Newby but found Alicia Hardacre on the edge of the goalmouth who fired past Donohue to double the hosts’ lead.

Half time shortly followed afterwards and no changes were made to the tactics or squad for Town.

Yellows pushed to get on the scoresheet themselves but Poulton’s defence stood tall for the second half.

There were a couple of occasions where wingers Jess Carberry and Nicola Chatterley broke past the Vics’ fullbacks and put crosses in but they were cleared away frantically.

Poulton kept possession well but again struggled to find a gap in the Yellows’ shape. Not that they would have been too concerned already having a two-goal advantage, but this highlights the recent improvement of Warrington’s backline after only conceding three goals in the past three games.

Town knew it would be a challenge to travel to the Vics’ domain and try and steal points against the likely champions of the league, a side who has only lost one game all season, but nonetheless put out an excellent performance.

The Yellows remain two points away from the safety of relegation with 4 league games remaining.

They have a week off to rest and recover before they travel north to Inglewhite Road in Preston to face the Lilywhites, in the Quarter Final of the Alliance Design & Print Plate; a game of immense significance in which away support will be much appreciated.

Poulton Victoria: McCallion (GK), Holder, Wood, Brooks, Lock, Cloy (c), Collins, Wright, Hardacre, Grimes, Beattie. Subs: Williams, Tjingaete, Prescott, Evans, Newby

Warrington Town: Donohue (GK), Savage, Parsons, Portelli, McCloskey, Dobson (c), Cunningham, Green, Carberry, Chatterley, Vanden. Subs: Foster (GK), Dickenson, Hircombe, McEvoy

Goals: Newby 40’, Hardacre 43’

Poulton Victoria POTM: Newby
Warrington Town Players’ POTM: Carberry and  Cunningham