Report: Whitby Town 2-1 Warrington Town

Whitby Town ended Warrington Town’s four-match winning run in the league with a 2-1 win on a windy night in the east coast.

Aaron Haswell struck the winner shortly before the hour mark, less than a minute after Connor Woods had equalised Bradley Fewster’s opener.

The Yellows were fortunate to have only gone in one goal down at half time, as Whitby created a hatful of chances in the first half.

It took a while for both sides to settle down, with Whitby playing with a strong wind behind them.

That made it difficult for the Yellows to get out and impose themselves on the game, and Tony Thompson found his kicking game severely stunted by the conditions.

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He made the first save of the match on 11 minutes, pushing wide a Haswell shot that may have hit the side netting anyway, and from the corner, Josh Seary was well placed to clear off the line from Matty McDonald’s inadvertent play at a loose ball.

McDonald struggled after picking up a shoulder knock as he looked to get a shot away and was eventually forced off on the half hour mark, replaced by Josh Amis.

By that time, Whitby had come even closer to breaking the deadlock when Lewis Hawkins cracked the inside of the post with a well hit shot from the edge of the box.

Their goal did come on 36 minutes. A nice one-two between Haswell and Priestley Griffiths opened things up for Fewster, who drove low across Thompson in to the far corner.

Fewster could have had a second before the break but for a superb block by Evan Gumbs, before Haswell had a shot that whistled just wide of Thompson’s right hand post.

The half time whistle couldn’t come soon enough for the Yellows, and Fewster had another chance with an instinctive lob after a loose ball had dropped to him on the edge of the box.

With the wind behind them, the Yellows expected to see more of the game in the second half but they almost conceded a second within minutes of the restart, Thompson forced to make a solid save from Haswell.

Gradually, the Yellows started to apply some pressure and Eddie Clarke and Jay Harris both had shots that went just wide, the latter after a lovely flick around the corner in the box by Stefan Mols.

The equaliser came on 55 minutes, Amis holding the ball up well in the box and when it broke down, Williams clipped a ball to the back post for Woods to steer home for his sixth of the season, making him the Yellows’ top scorer.

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But there was barely time to celebrate that before Whitby had retaken the lead. Jake Hackett got away down the left past Seary and his cross was stopped dead in the box at the feet of Haswell who fired home.

From looking the most likely at the equaliser, the Yellows were now rattled and struggled to settle for the next 15 minutes.

They had a spell towards the end of the match where Seary had a drive from the edge saved, and then substitute Isaac Buckley-Ricketts clipped the crossbar late on, but it wasn’t to be.

The Yellows now have four consecutive home games, starting with Marske United on Saturday.

Whitby Town: Bland, Fergus, Shepherd, Bramwell, Rowe, Beeden, Hawkins, Griffiths (Green), Fewster (Cunningham), Haswell, Hackett (Day). Unused subs: Tomlinson, Bullock.

Warrington Town: Thompson, Seary (Walker), White, Hannigan, Gumbs, Harris, Mols, Williams, Woods, McDonald (Amis), Clarke (Buckley-Ricketts). Unused subs: Mfuni.