Yellows face play-off trip to South Shields after Matlock defeat

Warrington Town will face South Shields in the play-off semi-finals after they lost 2-0 to Matlock Town on the final day.

Second half goals from Benito Lowe and Alex Byrne secured three points for the Gladiators and means the Yellows will have to do it the hard way if they are to get promoted.

The first half was an open affair, with Josh Amis shooting over the bar early on.

The home side probably edged it and came closest on the stroke of half time, when Mark Roberts somehow got back to divert Byrne’s header off the line via the crossbar.

A point would have been enough to keep Warrington at least fourth, and maybe third if Scarborough didn’t win.

As it was, the Seadogs pulled clear to win 5-2 against Radcliffe and the Yellows ended up succumbing to Matlock.

They offered little in the second half, with sole striker Amis’ threat nullified by three centre halves.

A weak shot by Stefan Mols on his left was the only half chance they could muster.

There was a flash point involving Amis, already on a yellow card, going up with Ieaun Evans, who did his best to get the Yellows striker sent off by rolling around on the floor clutching his face.

That angered the home crowd, but within minutes they got their breakthrough.

Substitute Lowe had his first effort blocked and the ball sat up for him to fire wonderfully in to the top corner, leaving Dan Atherton no chance.

Although the Yellows did push looking for an equaliser, Joe Young remained relatively untested and Matlock put icing on the cake in injury time.

Byrne gathered the ball from a cleared free-kick, and released busy substitute Jesurun Uchegbulam down the right. He held the ball up well and clipped a ball in for Byrne to nod home at the back post.

It means Matlock will travel to Scarborough, with Warrington off to South Shields, now knowing they’ll have to play away in both the semi-final and final to go up.

Matlock Town: Young, Yates, Kendall, Evans, Qualter, Lees, Byrne, Wiles, Hughes, Chippendale, Hannah. Subs: Lowe, Sharman, McKnight, Uchegbulam, Daly.

Warrington Town: Atherton, Duggan, Clarke, Harris, Roberts, Gumbs, Mackreth (Duffy), Mols (Williams), Amis (Buckley), Dixon, Buckley-Ricketts. Unused subs: Regan, Grivosti.

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