Warrington Town 1

Salford FC 1

WARRINGTON Town shot themselves in the foot on Saturday after they looked certain to pile more misery on Salford FC.

The visitors came into the game on the back of releasing eight players in the space of two weeks due to a lack of funds and it certainly showed in the first half.

They looked like a side down on their luck - bereft of any quality or fighting spirit and Town were given an open invitation to run away with the three points.

But they failed to make the most of the immense time and space they were afforded and third-place Salford somehow managed to avoid defeat in the North West Counties Soccer League Division One clash.

It does not take Einstein to figure out where Town's current problems lie. They have only scored one goal in their last three games and they were offensively poor again on Saturday.

They were trying to walk the ball into the net and it was crying out for someone to chance their arm and have a pop at goal.

Town manager Alan Blair said: "Our strikers are not playing that badly. Their hold up and link up play is very good but they have got to start shooting more."

Town dominated the first 45 minutes and they would have been home and dry by half-time had it not been for powder-puff finishing by Ian Cocks and Andy Moore.

Cocks had an ice-age to steady himself after being put clean through on goal by the impressive Paul Hives but he shot tamely into the goalkeeper's arms.

Moore's miss paled in comparison but he still should have stuck the ball into the back of the net.

Steve Lathom showed his teammates how it is done on 23 minutes, darting in from the wing and flinging himself at Chris McDonagh's looping cross. The ball evaded the onrushing goalkeeper, struck the post and fell kindly for Lathom to score his first goal since October.

In the second half, Town continued to have the upper hand but they fell victim to a classic sucker punch on 69 minutes when Graham Vaughan drilled the ball home at the third attempt as Town's defenders sat back and watched.

Dave Pick was then given his marching orders for lashing out at Rob Kelly off the ball.

The incident seemed to spark Salford into life but 10-man Town, who defended well in the main, kept them at bay.

Town: Terry O'Hanlon, Dave Pick, Steve Cartledge, Paul Davies, Lee Webster, Paul Hives, Steve Lathom, Dave Hennessey, Ian Cocks, Andy Moore. Subs used: Andy Tague, Jamie Cavanagh, Paul Anderton.