Match Report

9th November 1999 - Warrington Town 5 - 0 Formby

Formby flattened by "Double Double"

There's no other words for it - Town absolutely slaughtered a quite honestly pathetic Formby on the hallowed turf at Cantilever Park tonight. It was a bitterly cold and misty night in Latchford but that didn't stop Town on their way to equalling the biggest win of the season. Pieman said he could tell from the start it was going to be a big one - he had to change a £20 pound note at the turnstile - an unprecedented occurance.

Town were two up inside 12 minutes, Mike Tandy and Tickle heading at the near post and shooting low into the bottom corner. The game was just about won! Could Formby fight back? Stranger things have happened, but not for a very very long time. The next chance for Town came when the keeper dropped a long shot by Neil Holden which was bouncing over the line before he jumped on it as it was half way over. Still, it didn't stop the fans behind the embarrassed keeper shouting for a goal. Formby tried a lame counter attack before a good ball was played long to Kevin Tyrell. He whipped in a cross to Neil Holden who dinked this chance just over the bar. The first half was pretty boring compared to the second, though.

Just about direct off the kick off Ged Bushell finished well into the top corner after a bit of a bounce-around in the Formby box. Four-nil came seconds later as a Kevin Tyrell cross was met by a delightful flick on by Neil Holden. The ball was slammed home from 10 yards by Dave Tickle, completeing the second double whamee for Formby. They began to get frustrated and were pushing their luck with several fouls which, thankfully, did not go unnoticed by the referee. Formby's first shot of the second half came on 58 minutes but the desperate attempt was dragged wide. Meanwhile Dave Tickle, reportedly in demand by several scouts, was running the show. A great Tickle cross bounced awkwardly for the Formby keeper and for Terry Nestor who had come on as a sub. He flapped at air and the ball bounced wide.

Formby were only getting at most three passes together before the relentless Town won it back. Formby's first real threat of the match came when they won a corner but it was headed well clear by the solid Town defence on 55 minutes. Their best chance came from a quick glanced header but Neil McCormack in the Town goal was well up to it and made a good save. The following Town break was let down by a poor first touch from Tyrell, however. Gavin McDonald put a one-on-one wide - his cheeky smile said it all. Ged got a bit excited for his next chance and blasted over and Gavin and Tague between them were unlucky to put Town five up just a few minutes later. It could easily have been 8-0 by this stage. A couple more chances went begging before Ged Bushell rose well and resisted a foul to square the ball in the box to Gavin McDonald who passed into an empty net. He was quite chuffed with this.

After his goal Gavin turned provider for Ged Bushell but he was unable to convert any chances. As he lay with his head in his hands after about the fourth attempt, McDonald was heard to jokingly ask "how many do you want?". Kevin Tyrell burst through in the last couple of miutes and shot hard from the edge of the box. The keeper was beaten, but the frame of the goal was not, and Tyrell saw his shot ricochet back off the post. Still - it didn't matter as the final whistle blew minutes later.

Alan Hansen says: Och! Wha cannae saaay? A craackin toon perfoormence an a well deseerved veectoriy.

A Warrington Guardian report:

TOWN MOVING UP

THE goals may have rained in at one end but there was high praise for the man guarding Town's goal on Tuesday night. Teenager Neil McCormack made two outstanding second half saves as Formby threatened a fightback and the netminder finished another good night's work with a fourth successive clean sheet. The three North Western Trains League points marched Town up to seventh spot in the table.

Afterwards assistant manager Alan Blair said: "Neil might be a little unorthodox sometimes but he isn't making any mistakes and is keeping Alan Thompson out of the side. Thommo was watching tonight and admitted afterwards that Neil had another good game. And saves like he made in the second half can sometimes make all the difference."

It is not only betweeen the posts where there is competition for places and having a fully fit squad to choose from is helping Town put some fine form together. Town's riches are in midfield. For this 5-0 thrashing, which could easily have been 10-0, came without inspirational midfield generals Ian Callaghan and Terry Nestor. Callaghan, who has been in outstanding form since switching from defence, was absent with a hamstring injury and he was replaced by Robbie Preidt which meant there was still no room in the starting line-up for Nestor.

Blair said: "Robbie missed one game for a wedding and had to wait to get back in while Terry had a holiday and is still waiting for his chance again."

And with players like Dave Tickle playing out of their skins at the moment manager Dave Hughes is right not to throw his more established stars straight back in at their expense. Tickle has been one of the form players of the campaign, bossing the central midfield area with confidence and maturity. He has proven lethal in front of goal too and bagged two against Formby. Central defender Mike Tandy put Town ahead in the 14th minute, heading home a Neil Morgan corner. Then winger Morgan laid the ball on for Tickle to fire home from the edge of the box a minute later.

Within a minute of the restart Town made it 3-0 with striker Jed Bushell's sixth goal of the campaign. Then Bushell turned provider for Tickle's second but the biggest surprise of the night was having to wait a further 36 minutes for Town's final strike, which came courtesy of Gavin McDonald. Inbetween a galaxy of chances were missed.