WARRINGTON Town boss Paul Carden heaped praise on goalkeeper Tony McMillan after his penalty save in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Hednesford Town.

Despite dominating at Cantilever Park, Yellows could not add to their one-goal lead and the visitors were given the chance to level from the spot in the 88th minute when Evan Gumbs brought down Tony Clarke.

However, McMillan kept out Danny Glover’s spot-kick and Carden says it could prove pivotal in their season.

“It was massive and that’s why we brought him in. I know we had a good goalkeeper beforehand in Karl Wills but we brought Tony in for moments like that,” he said.

“I don’t know how many clean sheets he’s kept now when we’d maybe only picked up one before he arrived.

“The back four in front of him was different class, Evan is probably lucky in the first half after kicking out a bit after their lad left one on him.

“When we gave the penalty away after all the chances we had, you think it might not be your day. We should have had three or four goals but when you don’t take those chances, you run the risk.

“When you’ve got a keeper like Tony, you know he’s going to be there in big moments.

“Hednesford are no mugs, they have players in their squad that will cause teams problems but we’ve handled everything today.

“If we came away from today having won 4-0, nobody could have complained as we were comfortable.”

Mitch Duggan’s long range strike proved to be the difference between the sides and earned a fifth league victory in a row for Town, a run in which they have kept four clean sheets.

Carden hailed his side’s game management and maturity, especially given the youth of several of his players, and says the likes of McMillan play a huge part in that.

“It was a tight, niggly game and there wasn’t much quality being shown before Mitch steps through and hits a great strike,” he said.

“It really was a great hit, he must have been 35 yards out when he hit it but he caught it on the sweet spot.

“We should have been out of sight, their keeper has been busy and Tony didn’t have a great deal to do.

“His game management is a massive asset for us, he knows when to cool it down and kick it quick.

“We can’t forget that we have three lads in the back line who are 20 or below, you need good marshals and we have them in Tony and Jay McCarten.

“We have players on the pitch who are young lads and this will be invaluable experience for them.”