Report: Warrington Town 1-0 Buxton

Warrington Town gave their fans an early Christmas present with a long-awaited 1-0 home win over Buxton.

Joe Rodwell-Grant’s first goal at the Cal.Delivery Stadium secured three points in the league for the first time since October against the high-flying Bucks.

Rodwell-Grant fired home the rebound after his penalty, clumsily given away for handball by Dovydas Sasnauskas, was saved by Manchester City loanee True Grant.

He thought he had a late second goal that his overall performance deserved, shooting home after Peter Clarke’s shot was well saved by Grant, only to be denied by the linesman’s offside flag.

The Yellows largely nullified the threat of Buxton, who were placed sixth in the table before kick-off, their only real chance of the first half coming from former Warrington loanee Josh Popoola, his shot from the left tipped over the bar by Dan Atherton.

Atherton was booked for a foul on Luke Brennan on 25 minutes, halting a Buxton counter attack outside his box, with cover from his defenders quelling any calls for a red card from the Bucks players surrounding the referee.

It was 38 minutes until the Yellows created a chance of note, a stunning point-blank save by Grant denying Finlay Cross-Adair from close range after Elliot Morris had diverted the ball across goal.

The second half started with a flurry of action, Atherton down well to deny Brennan and then Popoola dinked the rebound over his outstretched arms and wide.

Warrington responded by going up the other end, and from nothing, Cross-Adair’s cross was handled by Sasnauskas with nobody around him and the referee pointed to the spot.

Grant saved Rodwell-Grant’s spot kick, but he was helpless to prevent the rebound finding the back of the net.

The Yellows had chances to make the game safe, Matty McDonald glancing a header wide from Mikey O’Neill’s corner with 14 minutes left, before a fine block by Kieran Burton denied Rodwell-Grant from O’Neill’s pull back.

An injury-time corner saw Grant down excellently to stop Clarke’s right foot shot that Rodwell-Grant then swept home, but in the end the disallowed goal didn’t matter for the Yellows, who move six points clear of the bottom four.

Warrington Town: Atherton; Gumbs, Douglas, Clarke, Hont; McCourt (Amaral), O’Neill; Cross-Adair, McDonald, Morris (Miles); Rodwell-Grant. Unused subs: Bennett, Dixon, Southern.

Buxton: Grant; Sasnauskas, Ravenhill, Burton; Stobbs (Fitzhugh), Coleman (De Girolamo), Kirby, Williams (Trueman); Elliott, Brennan; Popoola. Unused subs: Lusala, Tomlinson.

Post-match reaction

Manager Paul Carden reflects on Saturday's win.