Report: Warrington Town 0-3 South Shields

A nightmare first half saw Warrington Town slip to another home defeat on Saturday afternoon.

For the second week in a row, the Yellows found themselves with a mountain to climb at the break but having rescued a point at Darlington from two goals down last week, they could not recover from three behind against South Shields. 

All three of the visitors’ goals came in the opening half-hour at Cantilever Park, with Mackenzie Heaney’s cross going straight in for the opener before Dillon Morse headed home his corner two minutes later to put the Mariners in command. 

Paul Blackett then strode through to make it 3-0 before the break, and Town could not find anything by way of a response.

After impressing off the bench against Darlington last week, Paul Carden rewarded Josh Miles, Mikey O’Neill and captain Josh Amis by bringing them into his starting XI. 

Amis, who has been in fine form of late, had an early opportunity to add to his tally after being found by Connor Woods, but he flashed a shot wide of the near post.

Then came the opener with 12 minutes gone. Having seen his initial corner half-cleared, the ball came back out to Heaney and his inswinging delivery towards the back post evaded everyone, including goalkeeper Dan Atherton, and nestled in the left-hand corner.

Shields’ second came two minutes later, again from a corner as Morse rose highest inside the box to emphatically steer Heaney’s delivery beyond a helpless Atherton.

It could’ve gotten worse for the Yellows too, had Lucas De Bolle not spurned a header of his own after being found by yet another dangerous Heaney cross from out wide. 

Amis found himself in-behind as the first half passed its midway point, only to be denied by goalkeeper Myles Boney before the rebound was cleared off the line. 

That chance would be punished by the visitors four minutes later as Blackett latched onto a floated ball over the top, raced away from Peter Clarke and fired beyond Atherton to make it three and mark his return from injury in style. 

Shields came agonisingly close to a fourth before the break, Heaney curling an effort goalwards from outside the box which beat Atherton but struck the top of the bar.

The second half saw a change of shape and personnel for the Yellows, who were brighter in possession but failed to truly threaten a comeback. 

The best chance of the half fell the way of Woods with an hour gone. Having been found unmarked at the far post after the ball was worked across the box from right to left, he found Boney equal to his low strike. 

The Yellows have very little time to dwell on Saturday’s defeat, with a trip to Brackley Town coming up on Tuesday night. 

Post-match reaction

Manager Paul Carden gives his thoughts on Saturday's defeat.

Match facts

Warrington Town: Atherton, White (Southern 45), Harris (Dixon 54), Woods, O’Neill (Rodwell-Grant 83), Amis (Amaral 83), McDonald, Bennett, Douglas, Miles, Clarke. Unused subs: Halford. 

South Shields: Boney, Richards, Shepherd (Crossley 45+1), Broadbent, Morse, Briggs, Mee, Jenkins (Hodgson 90+1), Heaney, Blackett (Bramwell 70), De Bolle (Dudik 57) Unused Substitutes: Seymour 

Goals: Heaney (12), Morse (14), Blackett (26)

Yellow cards: McDonald (45), Amis (81), Bennett (81) / Blackett (22), Crossley (48), Richards (57), Boney (82).

Attendance: 943