Report: Warrington Town 2-0 Rushall Olympic

Warrington Town breathed life into their season with a much-needed 2-0 win at home to relegation rivals Rushall Olympic.

Lee Williams swept home in to the empty net deep into injury time to seal the points after Mikey O’Neill had put the Yellows into a first-half lead, on their way to a first league win this calendar year.

They were well worth the three points, with only the brilliance of Rushall goalkeeper Paul White denying them a second long before Williams’ late show.

O’Neill repaid the decision to start him in place of Matty McDonald, with Paul Carden deciding to also bring in skipper Josh Amis and Devarn Green from the start following the late comeback draw at Alfreton Town last week.

They started with intent and Rushall barely had a kick in the early stages, although the Yellows hadn’t really created any clear-cut chances until O’Neill’s opener on 18 minutes. A cross-field ball by Green finding Joe Rodwell-Grant, who fed the ball into Amis who let it run for O’Neill to bear down on the ‘keeper and slot home left-footed.

The offside flag denied Amis before on the stroke of half time, Rushall had their first chance, Austin Samuels denied by the outstretched arm of Dan Atherton.

The visitors came out stronger in the second half without creating any real threat on Atherton’s goal, aside from a long-range effort from Samuels.

But all the other chances went the Yellows' way. A plucky run by Rodwell-Grant ended with a shot denied by White, before Nathan Cameron threw himself at Amis’ strike at the rebound to keep it out.

Mo Doro lofted the ball through for Amis to loft over White, but agonisingly over the bar, and then O’Neill struck the post from 20 yards.

Substitute McDonald managed to weave through on the edge of the box to find Jay Harris, superbly denied by White, who saved the best save of the lot to the last, tipping wide from Doro.

Having not found the second goal, the closing stages were tense, and Atherton had to be brave to deny Samuels from Cameron’s flick-on, before the Yellows saw out two corners, the second of which led to a clearance that released Williams through on halfway, and with goalkeeper White up for the corner, he was able to run it in to the box and sweep the ball in to the empty net.

The Yellows are away at high-flying Chester on Tuesday before another crunch relegation battle with Radcliffe next Saturday.

Warrington Town: Atherton; Southern, Douglas, Clarke, James; Harris, Ackroyd (McDonald 73); Green (Doro 68), O’Neill (Amaral 86), Rodwell-Grant (Williams 83); Amis. Unused sub: Makinson

Rushall Olympic: White; Bavanganga, Cameron, McAlinden, Bood; Thompson, McGlinchey (Hall 46), Thomas, Forde (Mantom 63), King (Mitchell 71); Samuels. Unused sub: Green, Barkers.

Post-match reaction