Report: Warrington Town 2-3 Curzon Ashton

Stefan Mols returned to haunt Warrington Town again, this time knocking them out of the FA Cup in a 3-2 win for Curzon Ashton.

Mols came off the bench to head a second half winner in a topsy-turvy clash that saw both sides finish with 10 men following late red cards for Will Hayhurst and Yellows loanee Dylan Mottley-Henry.

Mottley-Henry had earlier cancelled out Isaac Sinclair’s opener before Bohan Dixon curled in a wonderful second from all of 30 yards out.

Hayhurst’s penalty made it all square at the break and though the Yellows twice hit the crossbar in the second half through Mottley-Henry and Connor Woods, it was Curzon who found the winner.

It marked a sixth consecutive game without a win for the Yellows and an even more costly one, given the financial rewards of progress in the FA Cup.

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Their lack of options off the bench were exposed again, as Curzon substitute Jamie Allen played his part in driving the visitors to victory after the Yellows had looked the most likely to snatch a winner.

After a slow start in a disappointing defeat at Banbury last Saturday, the Yellows again trailed early on – former Bamber Bridge midfielder Sinclair left unmarked on the edge of the box to curl an opener beyond Dan Atherton inside five minutes.

That enabled Curzon to exercise a similar element of control to what they showed in the 4-1 league win they managed on the same ground barely three weeks ago, only for the Yellows to turn the game on its head five minutes either side of the half hour mark.

The equaliser came when Cameron Mason couldn’t hold a first-time Dixon shot from the edge, with Mottley-Henry quickest to react to sweep home the rebound for the third goal of his loan spell.

Mottley-Henry then created the platform for the Yellows to take the lead with a driving run through midfield and when the first chance broke down, Mitch Duggan teed up a shot for Dixon who measured a beauty of a curling shot in to the corner for 2-1.

The Yellows thought they had a third on 36 minutes when Mottley-Henry fired home from a Sean Williams free kick, only for Duggan to have been flagged offside from his headed flick on.

And then just as the hosts seemed comfortable in the lead, they were pegged back when George Waring was pulled down in the box and Hayhurst stepped up to convert from the penalty spot despite the best efforts of Atherton.

The early parts of the second half belonged to the Yellows with Woods digging out a shot that came off the underside of the cross bar and then Mottley-Henry headed a fine cross by Duggan off the woodwork too.

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But they ran out of steam and the additions of Allen and Mols gave Curzon fresh impetus, and they punished the hosts 17 minutes from time when Allen kept a lost cause alive on the left, laid back for Hayhurst who curled in a wicked ball that Mols ran across the front post and powered a header home with barely his first touch, running off with a finger to his lips directed at the home fans who had booed his introduction to proceedings.

There was late drama when an incident on the touchline involving Mottley-Henry and Hayhurst resulted in both being given their marching orders by excellent referee Harry Jones, and goalkeeper Atherton twice came close to getting on the end of Matt Grivosti corners in injury time.

It wasn’t to be though for the Yellows, who bow out of the FA Cup at the first time of asking.

Warrington Town: Atherton, Duggan, White, Hannigan, Clarke, Dixon, Woods (Bennett), Williams, Mottley-Henry, Buckley-Ricketts, Grivosti.

Unused subs: Walker, Gill, Smalley, Goudie.

Curzon Ashton: Mason, Poscha, Matthews, Kenyon, Sinclair, Spencer, Hayhurst, Waring (Allen), Richards (Mols), Mahon, Barton.

Unused subs: Walker, Edmundson, Taylor.