Report: Stocksbridge Park Steels 2-1 Warrington Town

Warrington Town’s miserable year continued as they were beaten 2-1 away at lowly Stocksbridge Park Steels.

Steels were the nearest side to the Yellows in the table, sitting a point ahead before kick-off, but this result now means Warrington find themselves four points adrift of safety.

It extends Warrington’s winless away run in the league to more than a year in what felt like a must-win game.

Debuts for new signings Niall Watson and Chris Doyle failed to inspire a change of fortune at Bracken Moor, somewhere the Yellows had never won on six previous visits.

There had been little in the game until the opening goal on 34 minutes, when James Morris cut inside Troy Bourne and had a shot that was well saved by Liam Isherwood, only for Oliwier Grzelak to get to the rebound quickest and divert home from a narrow angle.

Things went from bad to worse on the stroke of half-time when Morris was again provider, this time for Alex O’Connor to screw a half-volley inside the far post.

The Yellows thought they had a lifeline within a minute of the restart when Reece Daly, a first half substitute for Matthew Tweedley, side-footed home from six yards out, only for referee Danielle Whitworth to mysteriously rule it out.

Chris Doyle was denied at point blank range by Ben Townsend with a header from a Jack Doyle corner, and then Watson curled a shot over the bar.

Isherwood kept the Yellows in it with a one-handed save from Morris, before Bourne got his first Yellows goal, scrambling the ball home at the back post from a Daly corner with less than 10 minutes to play.

He nearly grabbed an equaliser too, hitting Doyle’s free-kick against the post from close range, but that was the only real chance the Yellows had to rescue a point.

They now have four consecutive home games against Guiseley (Saturday October 18), Tranmere (Tuesday October 21, Cheshire Senior Cup), Lancaster (Saturday October 25) and Ashton (Tuesday October 28).