Warrington Town 1 Halesowen Town 0.

WARRINGTON recorded their third league win of 2017 as they saw off Halesowen in a game they should have perhaps won more comfortably.

Danny Hattersley’s goal on the stroke of half time ended up being the winner for Yellows, but they squandered several good chances in the second half.

In a scrappy opening to the game, the closest Paul Carden’s side came to a goal was when Sean Williams curled a long-range effort over the bar.

They were under no real pressure at the other end, despite a series of threatening long throws from the visitors’ Liam Slade.

Town stepped up the pressure on the half-hour mark, with Michael Monaghan getting to the byline only to see his cross diverted onto the crossbar.

Williams’ free-kick from wide on the left dropped just wide, while James McCarten’s flick-on from a corner just evaded Hattersley.

The striker would not be denied, however, and he got on the end of Danny Ventre’s through ball and held off two defenders to slot home just before the interval.

After the break, Yellows sensed the opportunity for more goals and Josh Askew had a shot deflected just wide within seconds of the restart, with Evans Gumbs having a header from the resulting corner saved by Yeltz keeper Daniel Platt.

Home debutant Connor McCarthy was lively all afternoon and his excellent turn and shot was just off target, before Williams’ free-kick befell the same fate.

Lee Chilton had a long-range effort pushed away by Yellows keeper Tony McMillan, while Hattersley saw two attempts at doubling his tally go astray.

The first was off target from Scott Harries’ cross, while the second was a header well saved by Platt.

Despite their pressure, Town were indebted to McMillan for securing the points when he made a superb save to deny a volley from Chilton.

Halesowen had striker Ethan Delaney sent off late on for a poor tackle on Billy Smart and Yellows saw out the win to cut the gap between them and the Evo-Stik Premier Division play-off places to eight points.

Warrington Town: McMillan, Harries, Askew, Ventre, McCarten, Gumbs, Williams, Smart, Hattersley (Jerome), McCarthy (Codling), Monaghan. Subs not used: Vassallo, A Carden, Shaw.