Warrington Town beaten at home by South Shields

Kevin Phillips celebrated his first game in charge of South Shields with a crucial 2-1 win away at play-off rivals Warrington Town.

Two quickfire goals in the first half put the Mariners in command as they secured a third straight win and moved second in the NPL Premier Division.

A cheaply conceded corner was punished when Dillon Morse headed home on 13 minutes after Dan Atherton had clawed away JJ Hooper’s header.

Within two minutes the lead was doubled, the dangerous Cedric Main cutting inside Baille and Bohan Dixon from the left and hitting a fierce shot from the edge that was deflected past Atherton for 2-0.

Robert Briggs had a golden opportunity to make it three shortly after, springing the offside trap and rounding Atherton, only for a last-ditch tackle by Evan Gumbs to stop a certain goal.

The Yellows were gifted a route back in to the game midway through the first half, Scott Moloney spilling a routine Jack Mackreth cross and the ball was only half-cleared to Baillie, who sidefooted home via a deflection.

The Yellows hopes of a comeback were dashed when Jay Harris saw red for a second bookable offence midway through the second half, but in the dying stages, they felt they should have had a penalty for a foul on Luke Duffy by Mitch Rose in the box, waved away by the officials.

Warrington: Atherton, Baillie (Coulton), Duggan, Harris, Roberts, Gumbs, Mackreth (Mols), Williams, Buckley, Dixon (Amis), Duffy. Unused subs: Bell, Regan.