Mossley 1 Warrington Town 2

WARRINGTON Town recorded their third league win in four with a 2-1 win at Mossley.

All meaningful action in the match happened in a frantic five minutes ahead of half time, when Mossley first took the lead before ending up down to 10 men and a goal down by the time the two sides entered the changing rooms.

Scott Metcalfe’s superbly taken penalty in first half injury time after Stephen Tames had been brought down by Josh Granite, shown a straight red card by referee Matthew Parry, proved to be decisive as Shaun Reid’s men held on for back-to-back away league wins.

Seel Park is traditionally a tough place to go, not helped either by the swirling wind, rain and chilly conditions.

Warrington’s first sniff came when Robbie Booth poked through for Lee Gaskell on 10 minutes, but the former Ramsbottom United striker saw his shot well blocked by Granite.

Gaskell’s afternoon was curtailed by the half hour mark, replaced by Ash Ruane, having failed to shrug off a knock he picked up in a challenge by the corner flag early on.

Mossley grew in to the game, driven forward by dynamic captain Andy Keogh, and they forced a first save out of Karl Wills on 23 minutes. A scrappy free kick wasn’t cleared by the visitors, and it fell to Sam Robinson who was smartly denied to the goalkeeper’s left.

There hadn’t been much sign of a goal until Mossley took the lead on 42 minutes. Striker Mike Fish picked the ball up out wide and was shown inside on to his weaker left foot, which proved to be a mistake as he managed to create enough space to get a shot away, and it was drilled low, past Wills and in to the bottom corner of the goal.

But Warrington showed the character that had been so prominent in their historic FA Cup run, ended by Conference side Gateshead last weekend, and equalised within two minutes.

Play built up down the right, before Booth and Tames exchanged passes inside. Booth laid the ball off to Mannix, and the Warrington captain dummied past one before steadying himself and firing a fine right-footed strike from 25-yards beyond the goalkeeper’s right hand.

The game’s big turning point then came in first half injury time. Tricky striker Tames got the ball inside the box, stood up his man and beat him on the outside, and just as he was about to shoot for goal, had his standing leg taken from under him by Granite.

The referee pointed to the spot, and deemed the offence worthy enough to pull out a straight red card, despite the narrow angle.

Metcalfe stepped up and made no mistake, his 15th goal of the season, and Town led 2-1 at half time.

They almost put the game to bed inside the first two minutes of the second half, when left-back Louis Corrigan hit a sweetly-struck shot with the outside of his left foot from the edge of the box, which fizzed just wide of the far post.

Tames then got in behind, latching on to a superb long ball by Mannix, only to be denied by a defender.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Mossley were still posing a threat at the other end, and Wills had to make a fine finger-tipped save to deny Fish his second goal.

For about 15 minutes, the game went from end to end, before Warrington started to make their extra man count by retaining possession.

Both Ruane and Tames had half chances to finish the game off, and substitute Ben Wharton did get the ball in the net with six minutes to go, pouncing on a rebound after the goalkeeper had spilled Nathan Burke’s shot, but was flagged offside.

The visitors held on for the win, which lifts them up to 14th in the table.

Mossley: Farrimon, Henson, Bennett, Purcell (Cross), Granite, McGonigle, Hevingham, Keogh, Fish, Robinson (Matthews), Pratt (Nuttall). Unused subs: McDonnell, Dean.

Warrington: Wills, Field, Corrigan, Mannix, McCarten, Robinson, Booth, Burke, Tames, Gaskell (Ruane), Metcalfe (Wharton). Unused subs: Doughty, Beesley, Hardwick.