Leek Town 0 Warrington Town 1 WARRINGTON Town reached the semi-finals of the Doodson Sport Cup with a 1-0 win at Leek Town.

A second half strike from Scott Metcalfe was enough to decide the quarter final tie played in atrocious conditions on a horrendous pitch in Staffordshire.

It means cup fever will be returning to Warrington, four months after the glorious FA Cup first round win over Exeter City. Town will host Northern Premier League high-flyers Ilkeston Town in the semi-finals on March 24th.

For large parts of the quarter final, it seemed penalties would be the likely outcome.

Torrential rain worsened the conditions underfoot, which had already prompted an afternoon pitch inspection, and the ball held up in the middle third of the pitch throughout.

Neither side created much in the opening 25 minutes, home side midfielder Dan Shelley coming closest with a curled shot that fell well wide of the post.

Then Warrington had a 10 minute spell where they did everything but take the lead. It started when striker Ben Wharton held the ball up well and found Gerard Kinsella, who made his first start for the club, and he got a firm shot away that skimmed off the wet pitch and was pushed wide.

A ball over the top by captain David Mannix held up nicely for Wharton, who screwed his shot just wide of the far post after being forced out wide.

He should have done better too five minutes later when he got in behind the back four, held off a defender and then failed to test the ‘keeper with a right foot effort.

In between those two chances, Metcalfe should have given Town the lead. He was first denied by the goalkeeper’s legs after Kinsella had carved open the defence with a fine pass, and then Metcalfe drilled right across the goal line and wide with Wharton begging for a pull back at the far post.

After failing to make the onslaught count, Warrington were given a warning at the other end, when striker Liam Shotton hit the underside of the bar with shot having been afforded far too much time in the box.

Leek ended the half strongest, and Warrington were twice grateful to ‘keeper Karl Wills in the closing minutes of the first half, coming out to deny Tim Grice, and then saving with his feet from the striker’s low shot.

The conditions worsened after half time, and the game turned in to a midfield war of attrition.

On the hour mark, substitute Stephen Tames managed to get away down the right hand side, only to see his clever pull back blasted over by Nathan Burke.

The unlikely breakthrough finally came on 78 minutes, when Leek failed to clear, and Metcalfe took full advantage, drilling the ball across the ‘keeper and in to the far corner, for his 22nd goal of a prolific season.

The win extends Warrington’s winning run away from home to seven games.

Leek: Chapman, Thompson, Johnson, Hall, Dicker, Price, Danylyk, Shelley, Grice, Shotton, Kinsella (Lowe). Unused subs: Donnelly, Espley, Baker, Chadwick.

Warrington: Wills, Turner, Hardwick, Mannix, McCarten, Robinson, Kinsella, Burke, Wharton, Gahgan (Tames), Metcalfe (Corrigan). Unused subs: Hayes, Kavanagh, Collins.