Report: Chorley 1-1 Warrington Town
Connor Woods’ penalty deep into injury time allowed Warrington Town to leave Chorley with a point on Saturday afternoon.
The Town number seven emphatically slammed home the spot kick deep into injury time after substitute Josh Amis, who was making his first appearance of the season, had been felled in the box.
It means Paul Carden’s second spell in charge ends in stalemate against a Chorley side who had lost just one of their opening nine games and had taken the lead just two minutes after being reduced to 10 men.
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Joe Nolan was dismissed on the hour mark for sliding in late on Joe Rodwell-Grant having already been booked, but the Magpies struck shortly afterwards when a loose backpass evaded Dan Atherton for Craig Hewitt to slide home the loose ball.
Town had made a bright start to proceedings, with Rodwell-Grant forcing an early save from home stopper Matt Urwin before Bohan Dixon headed a deep cross from Woods wide.
However, the hosts slowly started to assert themselves as the half went on, with Atherton twice denying Warren Clarke.
He first got a fingertip to an effort to push it onto the post before later denying the winger one-on-one after a long ball had evaded the Town defence. There continued to be little between the teams after the break until Nolan’s dismissal threatened to open things up in the visitors’ favour.
Unfortunately for Carden’s men, however, the opposite happened as they gifted Hewitt and the hosts something to hold onto.
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Shortly afterwards, though, Rodwell-Grant had a glorious chance to level matters having sprung the offside trap, but he was denied one-on-one by Urwin.
Town huffed and puffed but struggled to create anything clear-cut, with Matty McDonald’s half-volley straight at Urwin midway through the seven added minutes of injury time looking like the final chance.
After Amis enticed a clumsy foul from George Horbury, however, the referee thought long and hard before pointing to the spot, with Woods then sending the travelling mass of Town fans behind the goal into raptures.
Post-match reaction
Manager Paul Carden gives his thoughts on Saturday’s point at Victory Park.
Match facts
Warrington Town: Atherton, White, Douglas (Farquharson), Gumbs, Harris, Woods, McDonald, Rodwell-Grant, Dixon (Amis), Sithole (Miles), Grivosti (Bennett). Sub not used: O’Neill
Goals: Hewitt (62) / Woods (90 pen)
Yellow cards: Nolan (23, 60) / Dixon (12), McDonald (43), Grivosti (52), Gumbs (53), Harris (90)
Red cards: Nolan (60)
Attendance: 1,450
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