Coming off the back of a 4-3 away win over Ashton, Town's morale was high as they went into this floodlit match, the new moon sinking low over the Cantilever Park turnstiles.
Within five minutes, Town had begun to threaten the Squires Gate goal. Ged Bushell burst through on the left before whipping in a cross-cum-shot which was fumbled onto the post by the flailing arms of the Squires Gate keeper. The next Town chance of note came after 22 minutes after some good play by Terry Nestor, Ged Bushell's square ball was lofted high over the bar by the advancing Chris Lee. However, just 8 minutes later, Town slipped up for the first time as Alan Thomson missed a clearance to allow the Squires Gate striker to sneak in and score.
Town knew that they were still in the game and always had been, and again began pressing forward, passing well. On 40 minutes, Town were rewarded for their efforts as they won a penalty. Ged Bushell was blatantly tripped after beating the Squires Gate no. 2 who then complained so violently to the referee that he was booked, and deservedly so. Chris Lee fired home the penalty to draw level before the half time whistle blew, minutes later.
Town came close on 50 minutes but went ahead about 5 minutes later as some great passing from Kevin Tyrell and Ged Bushell left Terry Nestor with a side-footed shot, placed neatly in the bottom left corner. Another five minutes passed before Town went further ahead. Chris Lee, by now having a great game, beat two men on the left before whipping in a knee-high cross. Everybody missed either the shot or clearance except Ged Bushell who controlled his powerful volley very well to score the goal of the game. Ged continued to threaten before he was substituted, coming close on two occasions.
By the midway point of the second half, the Town fans were becoming increasingly frustrated by the referee. However, ther annoyance was relieved somewhat when the ref was floored by a powerful ball played upfield, hitting the back of his head. Gavin McDonald, replacing Ged Bushell, came close also as a lob over the advancing keeper went inches wide. He had been scoring great goals for fun during the half-time warm up.
Town had played brilliantly to come back, showing great committment. Thommo had made up for his early error by making some great saves forTown - it was another three points on the slate.
No Boss, No Problem
From the online version of the Warrington
Guardian
WARRINGTON completed a pair of managerless wins in North Western Trains League Division Two on Tuesday night. With boss Dave Hughes on holiday, Alan Blair steered his side to further success on the back of their victory against Ashton.
The first half was a frustrating affair as both sides struggled to settle into the game. Jed Bushell nearly broke the deadlock with a speculative shot from a tight angle which squeezed through the goalkeeper's hands but rebounded off the post to safety. Left back Mark Ashton set one of the better moves in motion by confidently dribbling out of defence and sending Bushell racing into the box, but blazed the lay-off over the bar.
Worryingly for Town though was the amount of space allowed to Squire's front line, especially Richard Burgess who finally broke the deadlock after goalkeeper Neil McCormack's fumble on 29 minutes. Warrington responded brightly and when Ashton sent Dave Tickle on a dash into the penalty area right back Paul Ashcroft was forced to trip him. Chris Lee despatched the penalty, his fourth of the season, with ease and the home side grew in confidence.
Two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half killed off the game as Terry Nestor worked off the back of some neat passing from Bushell and Kevin Tyrell then Bushell himself deservedly got on the scoresheet.
Team: McCormack, Pick, Ashton, Callaghan, Tickle, Tague, Nestor, Tyrell, Bushell, Preidt, Lee. Subs used: Gavin McDonald, Andy Harris, Alan Blair.